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Trump blasts Mamdani over new tax on wealthy part-time NYC residents

April 17, 2026 | | Print Article

President Donald J. Trump reacted to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s announcement of a new tax on wealthy part-time residents, fulfilling his campaign pledge to sock it to the rich.

Hizzoner marked Tax Day on April 15 by posting a video to social media celebrating Gotham’s first tax on pieds-à-terre, dwellings worth $5 million that are owned by people who aren’t permanent residents of the city.

“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich,” Mamdani proclaimed. “Well, today, we’re taxing the rich.”

The scheme has the backing of New York Governor Kathy Hochul and is expected to generate at least $500 million per year, according to the state’s top Democrat.

Trump slammed the mayor’s announcement in a Thursday post to Truth Social.

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“Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! It has no chance! The United States of America should not contribute to its failure. It will only get WORSE. The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG. People are fleeing. They must change their ways, AND FAST. History has proven, THIS ‘STUFF’ JUST DOESN’T WORK,” the native New Yorker-in-chief wrote.

Before his shock election as the mayor of America’s financial capital, the Ugandan-born Muslim socialist was assailed by Trump as a “communist lunatic,” but their relationship became much chummier with Mamdani visiting the White House after the voters officially sent him to City Hall.

“This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city, like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million,” the mayor explained in the video. “This pied-à-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate, but who don’t actually live here. But even so, they’re able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world.”

“And most of the time, these units are sitting empty, since again, they don’t actually live here. This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers; now, it’s coming to an end,” Mamdani added. “This tax will raise at least 500 million dollars directly for the city. It’ll help fund things like free childcare, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods.”

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Trump ripped the mayor’s tax approach as “no good” during a Thursday event in Las Vegas, where he was promoting his no tax on tips policy.

“Look at New York. I mean, he’s a nice guy. Calls me all the time, says hi, but his policies are no good,” he said. “He’s chasing people out and causing a lot of harm to everybody, and everybody’s taxes are going through the roof.”

“Thanks to the support of Governor Hochul, we are one step closer to balancing our budget by taxing the ultra-wealthy and global elites with a pied-à-terre tax — the first of its kind in our state. Alongside the governor, our administration is fighting every day to make sure we address this fiscal deficit fairly, where the wealthy contribute what they owe and our budget reflects our commitment to the working New Yorkers being priced out of our city,” Mamdani said in a Tax Day statement posted to the mayor’s office website.

Chris Donaldson
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