Judge slams brakes on Mamdani's unpopular tax-the-rich scheme, but city vows to ignore ruling

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

A state Supreme Court judge in New York on Tuesday sided with angry New York City residents who sued  the city over Mayor Zohran Mamdani's new and highly unpopular pied-à-terre tax on second homes, telling the mayor that the rollout of the tax was botched. Mamdani's administration vowed to appeal the ruling and continue handing out tax bills.

Wayne M. Ozzi of State Supreme Court on Staten Island wrote in his ruling that the city was "arbitrary" and "capricious" in the way it sent out tax bills to more than 1,000 New Yorkers who didn't even qualify for the tax. Homeowners who erroneously received the tax bill were “substantially harmed and penalized needlessly” by the city saddling them with the "burden" of proving they shouldn't be subject to the tax, the judge said in his ruling, according to The New York Post.

Ozzi did not rule that the tax was illegal, only that its rollout was mismanaged, and he left the door open for Mamdani to rework the tax implementation.

Mamdani drew widespread criticism for his cavalier taunting of billionaires and at least one billionaire joined the legal battle against the city, including longtime casino magnate Steve Wynn. Former Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who served during President Trump's first term, also joined the opposition to the tax. 

Not only did the city vow to appeal the ruling, a spokesperson for Mamdani said it has no plans to stop issuing tax bills to New Yorkers, despite the court ruling. “Today’s decision is wrong, and we will invoke a stay of the injunction. With a stay, we will continue implementing the surcharge fairly, efficiently and in full compliance with the law, as we have since day one,” Matt Rauschenbach said, according to The Associated Press. 

Mamdani was widely condemned earlier this year when he announced the tax in a social media video shot outside of billionaire Ken Griffin's building in New York City. Mamdani went on to taunt Griffin who responded by threatening to pull his business interests out of the city. Watch a portion of that video along with Dave Rubin's analysis of the tax from earlier this year below.