Trump looks for ways to block Mamdani pied-à-terre tax

Dave Goldiner and Josephine Stratman, New York Daily News on Aug 11, 2026

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NEW YORK — President Donald Trump on Tuesday vowed to seek a way to block Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s planned pied-à-terre tax, calling it a “dangerous political experiment” that would backfire by spurring wealthy property owners to abandon NYC.

“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,” Trump posted on his social media site.

Without calling out Mamdani by name, Trump accused “Radical Left Jihadists” of engineering the tax on pricey second homes, which could include his own plush condo in Trump Tower.

“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 added. “Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty.”

Mamdani didn’t immediately fire back at Trump.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the new tax was about getting the wealthy to “pay their fair share.”

“Donald Trump ought to focus on all the pain he’s causing New Yorkers,” the governor told reporters. “Knock it off and don’t worry about us.”

Trump has denounced the pied-a-terre tax before, but the social media post marks the first time he has threatened federal legal action to block it.

The tax would only apply to property owners who have already moved away from New York and use their properties in the city as second homes, a fact that seems to undermine Trump’s argument that the levy would amount to a net loss of “TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return.”

A Staten Island judge on Monday temporarily blocked the controversial rollout of the new levy, agreeing with a group of homeowners who have been wrongly included in a list of those who may be ordered to pay up.

But the city plans to appeal to a higher court and Mamdani vowed to “vigorously defend” the city’s position, even as he conceded some homeowners may have been mistakenly included on the list.

The pied-à-terre tax imposes a property tax surcharge of up to 6.5% on residences are not primary homes in New York City, specifically condominiums and co-ops valued at $1 million or more and stand-alone residences valued at least $5 million. It is expected to impact about 13,000 properties and could raise $500 million a year in taxes, helping to close a big budget gap.

The levy was enacted in the spring as part of the state budget. Hochul announced the proposal alongside Mamdani in April and later signed it into law.

Trump’s attack on the law marks a new break with Mamdani, who has forged a surprisingly chummy relationship with his ideological rival in the White House.

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