Gov. Kathy Hochul has floated a tax on expensive second homes in New York City to generate extra revenue.
Albany-area Democratic state Sen. Pat Fahy has proposed a similar effort to raise revenue for upstate municipalities. The bill number is S10197.
She spoke with Capital Tonight’s Susan Arbetter about her proposed upstate pied-à-terre tax.
“I’m seeing the needs everywhere and I went, you know what, let’s have an opt-in for upstate, or outside of New York City, and let’s have half of it go to Aid to Municipalities,” Fahy told Capital Tonight. “AIM aid” provides unrestricted funds to municipalities.
Fahy, who says that people are stopping her on the street to talk about the proposal, also commented on the Empire Center’s critical take on the tax, which you can find here.
The new floor for such a tax is $2.5 million. Fahy says the details are still being worked out.
“This is not an upstate North Country camp,” Fahy said. “These are about the multimillion-dollar upstate investor homes that are largely unoccupied.”
