{"id":224176,"date":"2026-05-08T01:57:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/224176\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T01:57:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T01:57:23","slug":"new-york-democrats-are-making-billionaires-cry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/224176\/","title":{"rendered":"New York Democrats are making billionaires cry"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Democrats announced<\/a> Thursday that they reached a tentative agreement to tax multimillion-dollar second homes.<\/p>\n

The tax on these properties, which are known as pieds-\u00e0-terre, is meant to address affordability issues in New York City, which have been exacerbated by the weakening economy under President Donald Trump.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plan is to raise $500 million in additional revenue from these properties\u2014which are currently undertaxed\u2014to be applied to the city\u2019s budget deficit.<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani previously announced<\/a> plans to implement the tax in a video released on Tax Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Standing in front of billionaire Ken Griffin\u2019s $238 million penthouse, Mamdani decried the \u201cfundamentally unfair\u201d system where property owners like Griffin receive tax benefits even though they do not live there full time.<\/p>\n

The video was enormously popular, with the mayor\u2019s office announcing<\/a> the next day that it was their most watched video of all time.<\/p>\n

But billionaires weren\u2019t happy about it.<\/p>\n

\"KenAttribution: APKen Griffin, CEO of Citadel<\/p>\n

Griffin blasted<\/a> it as \u201ccreepy and weird,\u201d suggesting that he may move more of his company\u2019s operations out of the city in retaliation for criticizing his outsized wealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And Steven Roth, chair of Vornado Realty Trust, took things<\/a> even further on a call with investors, saying that phrases like \u201ctax the rich\u201d are \u201cjust as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Washington Post, which is owned by pro-Trump billionaire<\/a> Jeff Bezos\u2014one of the wealthiest people on the planet\u2014amplified Griffin\u2019s critique in a column<\/a> from its editorial board.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolitical leaders are role models for young people. In New York, the most prominent politician is sending a message to them: Resent success rather than trying to emulate it,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

Of course, Fox News agreed.<\/p>\n

During his show Wednesday night, Sean Hannity complained<\/a> about former President Barack Obama\u2019s support for Mamdani. He said that the notion of pushing for affordable housing in New York City was akin to the beliefs of \u201cevery communist in history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similarly, Fox Business conspiracy theorist Maria Bartiromo, argued<\/a> on her show Thursday morning that it was wrong for Mamdani to hold up Griffin as an example.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Panelist Lee Carter agreed, saying that complaints about income inequality are rooted in envy, and that Mamdani\u2019s stance on taxation is \u201cun-American.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s strange that there are any wealthy people left in New York City, based on the right\u2019s claims that Mamdani\u2019s 2025 election win<\/a> would lead to a mass exodus from the city, with Fox News even declaring<\/a> it the \u201cend of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

But if it\u2019s the end of anything, its billionaires escaping their obligation to the city and to the country that made them so rich in the first place.<\/p>\n

\tDaily Kos is free for everyone\u2014no paywall, no barriers. Help keep it that way<\/p>\n

Daily Kos is committed to keeping all our content free. That’s why we don’t have a paywall, and never will. However, Daily Kos’ revenue is down, and we may not be able to continue producing the quality of work you have come to expect from us. Donations from our readers are our largest source of income. If you value independent, accessible, paywall-free journalism, please consider making a donation today.<\/p>\n

\t\tPower matters.<\/p>\n

Sign up for our daily top stories newsletter so you don’t miss how it’s being used\u2014and what comes next.<\/p>\n

\tWas this story worth reading?<\/p>\n

\n\tRecommending and sharing stories helps us decide which stories are most important to show our readers.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Democrats announced Thursday that they reached a tentative agreement to tax multimillion-dollar second homes. The tax…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224177,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3968,88106,3365,88107,88108,88109,9,24,55,54,26318,56,88110,2780,88111,88112],"class_list":["post-224176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-billionaires","tag-donaldtrump","tag-economy","tag-foxnews","tag-jeffbezos","tag-kennethgriffin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-stevenroth","tag-taxes","tag-taxtherich","tag-zohranmamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}