Reports have revealed the proposed “pied-à-terre tax” threshold would be dramatically lowered from luxury second homes worth $5 million to properties with market values at just $1 million.
The proposal represents another example of Albany politicians marketing a tax as targeting “the rich,” only for it to eventually impact ordinary New Yorkers, retirees and middle-class families.
Gov. Hochul lied and sold New Yorkers on a tax aimed at ultra-wealthy global elites with $5 million Manhattan penthouses. Now Albany has quietly lowered that threshold to $1 million. That’s not the same tax; it’s a completely different tax with the same name.
In New York City, a $1 million apartment is not some billionaire trophy property. It can be a modest condo, a retirement investment or a family’s foothold in the city they spent decades living and working in. Albany keeps redefining “the rich” until it eventually means you.
According to published reports, state lawmakers are also considering an additional 1 percent tax on all-cash home purchases above $1 million across the five boroughs of New York City, further increasing costs on buyers already facing some of the highest taxes and housing prices in the nation.
The combined proposals send a dangerous message at a time when New York is already struggling with affordability, Albany is proposing a $268 billion budget, and residents are being pushed out.
Albany’s answer to every economic problem is another tax. New Yorkers are already leaving the state in record numbers because they cannot afford to live here. Instead of fixing affordability, reducing our bloated state budget, and making New York competitive again, Gov. Hochul and one-party rule are doubling down on punishing investment, homeownership, and economic growth.
As comptroller, I will oppose reckless tax hikes that drive people out of our state and make it harder for families to build wealth in New York. We need fiscal sanity and economic growth, not more creative ways for Albany politicians to squeeze taxpayers.
Joseph Hernandez (R, C)
Candidate for New York State Comptroller
New York City, NY