{"id":310179,"date":"2026-07-30T21:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310179\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T21:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T21:48:11","slug":"ex-trump-fixer-michael-cohen-blasts-nyc-mayor-mamdani-for-sending-him-erroneous-pied-a-terre-tax-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/310179\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Trump fixer Michael Cohen blasts NYC Mayor Mamdani for sending him erroneous pied-\u00e0-terre tax letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Count President Trump\u2019s former fixer Michael Cohen<\/a> among the angry New Yorkers who say the city sent them invasive letters informing them they may have to pay Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s new pied-\u00e0-terre tax, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Cohen received the dreaded missive<\/a> saying he needs to prove his condo at Trump Park Avenue on the Upper East Side is his primary residence \u2014 or face tens of thousands of dollars in new taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been paying NYC property taxes for 34 years,\u201d he fumed to The Post on Thursday. \u201cI\u2019m registered as a voter here yet now I have to go through the exercise in demonstrating to the city that I\u2019m a resident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Cohen has lived in a Trump building for 22 years. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n

He also took issue with the level of detail the city is seeking about him and other New Yorkers, especially with a far-left mayor at the helm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely concerned about submitting this information to a democratic socialist who has campaigned and continues to campaign on taking dollars out of the pockets of wealthy New Yorkers or anyone he perceives to be wealthy,\u201d Cohen said, noting many of his neighbors got the same letter.<\/p>\n

The city recently began sending the letters to tens of thousands of property owners saying they have to prove their address is their primary residence or be subject to Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s controversial tax on second homes<\/a>, which passed as part of the state budget earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The levy targets second homes that are worth at least $5 million, along with condos and co-ops that are worth at least $1 million that are unoccupied, non-primary residences.<\/p>\n

With the tax rate for condos and co-ops ranging from 4% and 6.5%, Cohen says he\u2019d be on the hook for nearly $50,000 in new taxes if he is erroneously slapped with the charge.<\/p>\n

One of Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s central campaign promises was taxing the rich. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

Letter recipients have to jump through a number of bureaucratic hoops to avoid the tax, as The Post previously reported.<\/a><\/p>\n

To prove primary residency, they can upload their most recently filed federal or state tax returns\u00a0 \u2013 an ask that left Cohen furious.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho would give their tax returns?\u201d he incredulously asked. \u201cThis is beyond abnormal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city lets people provide other proof of residence, like a driver\u2019s license, though Cohen said he coudn\u2019t submit the form without including his tax return on the decidedly non-user-friendly website.<\/p>\n

Michael Cohen\u2019s condo is in the former Hotel Delmonico building. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post<\/p>\n

He also chaffed at a request for the Social Security numbers of everyone living at his condo.<\/p>\n

On top of that, the Mamdani administration wants to know if a property is owned by a trust or limited liability company. In such cases, the city requires copies of the trust agreement or an affidavit from the managing member of the trust attesting to the fact that it\u2019s a primary residence.<\/p>\n

Cohen\u2019s condo at the former Hotel Delmonico is held in a trust, he said, the purpose being to shield the property from potential lawsuits or judgements. A trust can ensure a smooth transition of assets to Cohen\u2019s children, too.<\/p>\n

New Yorkers whose names and addresses appeared on a new database were outraged.<\/p>\n

All of the intrusive questions left Cohen \u2013 who has mended fences with Trump since serving as a key witness against him in New York State\u2019s business fraud case in 2023 \u2013 concerned about data security.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is going to have access to this information and use it?\u201d he said. \u201cWill the people in the administration all have access and where is it going to sit? Is it a secured website?\u201d<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the Mamdani administration published a searchable database<\/a> of the city\u2019s properties \u2013 including the full names and addresses of each property owner \u2013 who could fall under the new tax.<\/p>\n

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The move drew widespread criticism for endangering people on the list.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very disconcerting to see my name listed and to see many of my neighbors,\u201d employment labor attorney Carolyn Richmond told The Post.<\/p>\n

The list is an attempt at \u201cshaming everyone in this city who has worked hard to succeed,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s office did not answer a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Count President Trump\u2019s former fixer Michael Cohen among the angry New Yorkers who say the city sent them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[288,1023,57,23596,9,56,63,65,64,79763,7754,82],"class_list":["post-310179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-business","tag-luxury-real-estate","tag-metro","tag-michael-cohen","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-pied-a-terre","tag-property-taxes","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310179","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=310179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}