Mamdani’s Most Taxing Threat on New York City

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just issued a somewhat alarming video announcing the approval of a “pied-a-terre tax” – a new tax on properties valued at $5 million or more. A move that will likely drive property owners out of Manhattan in droves.

Mamdani is framing this issue in terms of what is fair. But this tax doesn’t really seem to be about what’s fair. The tax targets people who are investing in the city and don’t place much strain on city resources. They’re already paying exorbitant property taxes, while not really using any public services or public transport.

And Mamdani is basically saying, Now we can squeeze them for so much more – and he’s doing it with perceived delight. This is more likely about forcing the socialist agenda onto working Americans.

Plus, there’s the collateral damage to consider. Many of these property owners employ people to maintain those properties when they’re not in town. What happens to those people? Yet Mamdani swears this tax will help working New Yorkers.

New York is facing a $5.4 billion shortfall in the city’s finances, so obviously, Mamdani needed a way to raise more money. Taxing the rich sounds like an easy sell. The problem with that kind of leadership is that, according to reports, the top 1% of New Yorkers pay 46% of the income taxes in New York City. That’s almost half the city’s tax revenue. Rather than drive that tax revenue up, this new plan will more likely drive people out of the city in droves, to invest their money elsewhere in places with more favorable tax codes. And that is likely to have the opposite effect on the city’s revenue than what he claims.

When the city coffers come up short, who do you think Mamdani and his team will look to next to make up the difference, and beyond? It will be working, middle-class America, as usual.

And if you think what happens in New York doesn’t affect you, I’d remind you that what happens in New York does not stay in New York. It seeps out nationwide. Mayors in other predominantly blue cities will try the same. And if they succeed, it could quickly spread to the suburbs, meaning this could be coming for any of your cities – and any of your states.

Inthe video, Mamdani – who comes from an affluent family himself, lest we forget – smiles like the proverbial cat that ate the canary, tapping on the camera and saying, “We’re taxing the rich.” And standing in front of a luxury apartment building and dangerously calling out a CEO by name for owning an apartment inside in a city where we’ve recently seen a CEO gunned down in the streets simply for their position. And he caps the video off with “Happy Tax Day.”

President Trump took to Truth Social and blasted Mamdami’s new tax plan:

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. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

And Trump’s post comes just after Mamdani told Meet the Press that his personal relationship with President Donald Trump is “honest, direct and productive.”

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included more analysis of how the proposed pied-a-terre tax plan will likely affect New York City property values and employment rates. We also turned our attention to California, where an Iranian woman living in America on a green card was just arrested for selling Iranian arms to Sudan.

Watch the full broadcast below: