President Donald Trump said that the federal government is looking into ways to stop Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax.
Referring to the legislation as "dangerous political 'experiment,'" he said that the tax push – meant to target wealthier residents – "will destroy what was once a great City and State."
The pied-à-terre tax was first introduced in April. The plan is to 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 New York City.
On Monday, Aug. 10, the Mamdani administration faced a brief setback after a Staten Island judge issued a temporary restraining order in a lawsuit by homeowners
who claimed that the city botched identifying who would fall under the new surcharge. The city immediately filed to appeal the decision, which means a higher court will look at it before the order can go into effect.
It's the first of its kind in the state and is the first step toward one of Mamdani's major campaign points, which was taxing wealthier residents more. "The measure targets ultrawealthy out-of-city residents and global elites who use New York City real estate as a vehicle for wealth storage rather than as homes," a release about the tax plan said.
At the time, it was projected to rake in around $500 million a year for the city.
Since its unveiling, Trump has said on numerous occasions that Mamdani has targeted richer residents in the city, and would drive them out.
"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."
Neither Mamdani's nor Gov. Kathy Hochul's offices immediately responded to a request for comment from USA TODAY on Trump's comments. It's not immediately clear what legal pathways the administration is looking into.
"It is pure Amateur Hour, and 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," he continued in the post.
"Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty – And then the Radical Left Jihadists charge Congestion Pricing on top of everything else."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump says feds are looking into stopping Mamdani's pied-à-terre tax
