President Donald Trump announced this week that the federal government was looking into halting Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax.
The annual tax, meant to target richer residents, has drawn differing opinons from both sides of the aisle since its announcement in April.
But why does the president not support the tax? Here's what to know.
What is the pied-à-terre tax?
The tax, revealed in April, would annually charge one-, two-, and three-family homes valued at more than $5 million and condominium and cooperative units valued at $1 million or more when owners have a separate primary residence outside of New York City.
Letters have gone out to those who may fall under the new tax. Around 17,000 residents who received the notification have until Sept. 18 to prove that they do not meet
the guidelines for the new tax.
Why does Trump not support the pied-à-terre tax?
President Donald Trump has said on numerous occasions that Mamdani is targeting richer residents in the city, and would drive them out. Although both politicians come from differing sides of the aisle, in the past they have been able to have amicable meetings.
When the tax was first announced in April, Trump sharply criticized the surcharge and Mamdani on Truth Social.
"Sadly, Mayor Mamdani is DESTROYING New York! It has no chance! The United States of America should not contribute to its failure," Trump wrote on Truth Social shortly after the tax was announced.
"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."
At the time, Mamdani responded by saying that "the president and I both want the city to succeed. This is how you do it."
This week, Trump said that he had directed the federal government to look into stopping the tax. Referring to the legislation as "dangerous political 'experiment,'" he said that the tax push "will destroy what was once a great City and State."
"The NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax is costing New York City and State a fortune in that the money, eventually to be gotten, is very little compared to to the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return," he wrote to Truth Social on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
"I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster, before it is too late, for the millions of people who cherish New York and want to see it thrive, as opposed to becoming a filthy, crime ridden, decrepit place of mockery and scorn."
The president argued that, as costs rise for wealthier residents, they may take their businesses and lives elsewhere.
"Florida, Texas, and numerous other States, are making an absolute fortune," he continued in the post.
"It’s hard, as President of the United States of America, to sit back and watch it happen, especially to a place I once loved."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Trump is against Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax
