Judge orders Mamdani to redo pied-à-terre tax rollout
Por Janaki Chadha — POLITICO – TOP Stories
NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration must redo its rollout of the pied-à-terre tax, a Staten Island judge ruled Tuesday.
The decision from Judge Wayne Ozzi sides with New York City homeowners challenging Mamdani’s rollout of the surcharge, which applies to second homes in the city worth more than $5 million. The lawsuit, filed last month, alleges the administration did not perform sufficient due diligence before sending letters to some 17,000 homeowners and separately took issue with a public list of some 900,000 homes that could fall under the tax.
Under Ozzi’s order, the city must mail out new notices “in compliance with the intent of the law.” The notices that have gone out thus far are essentially voided. The ruling also eliminates the city’s exemption process, which Ozzi holds as “unlawful burden shifting.”
“Any time constraints imposed by this new legislation do not permit respondents to take shortcuts in implementing the law [in] a manner which violates petitioners’ (and all others who received the Mailed Notices) due process rights,” the ruling states.
City Hall plans to obtain a stay of the injunction, according to a person familiar with the matter granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. If the lower court’s ruling holds, it could risk delaying the implementation of the surcharge.
The new notices, according to Ozzi’s ruling, must state the factors and information considered in identifying a given property as a likely pied-à-terre, and the city must disclose the records or documents that support its initial determinations.
The decision requires the city to also remove the broader 900,000-home list from the Department of Finance website, with the option of replacing it with a more limited database.
“We’re gratified that the court has recognized we were right all along,” said Randy Mastro, the attorney for the plaintiffs and a frequent Mamdani antagonist. “The fact is that this administration failed to follow state law when it burdened New York City homeowners with proving they live in their own homes or be on the hook for paying a new surcharge.”
Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories
