The mayor of New York City has scrapped his plans to raise property taxes on expensive second homes after angering local millionaires and billionaires.<\/p>\n
Zohran Mamdani<\/a> had threatened to raise taxes on properties worth more than $5m (\u00a33.7m), hitting 0.4pc of the city\u2019s housing stock and raising $500m.<\/p>\n However, the socialist mayor\u2019s executive budget will not include the tax raid, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n Mr Mamdani had vowed to go after New York City\u2019s wealthiest<\/a>, announcing the tax in a video filmed outside a $238m penthouse belonging to Ken Griffin, the Citadel founder.<\/p>\n Mr Griffin\u2019s apartment is one of America\u2019s most expensive, located on a stretch known as Billionaires\u2019 Row. The video angered the hedge fund manager, who called the video \u201ccreepy and weird\u201d.<\/p>\n Mr Mamdani had argued that people like Mr Griffin were able to have extremely valuable and often empty apartments around the city, which was the result of a \u201cfundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers\u201d.<\/p>\n His planned tax targeted \u201cthose who store their wealth in New York City real estate but don\u2019t actually live here\u201d.<\/p>\n The decision to scrap the tax rise came after Mr Mamdani and Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, announced an extra $4bn to help close the city\u2019s gaping budget deficit.<\/p>\n For months, Mr Mamdani has warned that New York\u2019s fiscal situation is so dire that it poses a generational crisis rivalling the Great Recession, with a $5.4bn shortfall.<\/p>\n He had vowed to plug gaps in the budget by going after the ultra-wealthy and big corporations under the slogan \u201ctax the rich\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n Unsurprisingly, this approach has brought him into conflict with the city\u2019s most powerful residents. Mr Griffin said the campaign had triggered a \u201ctrauma\u201d.<\/p>\n Backtracking on the plan is unlikely to go down well with Mr Mamdani\u2019s supporters, who have elected the city\u2019s youngest mayor amid widespread concern about the cost of living.<\/p>\n