President Donald Trump floated the idea of intervening in New York City’s new tax policy on secondary homes spearheaded by Democratic Mayor Zohran Mamdani, while also letting fly a series of attacks on city officials and leaders he dubbed as “Radical Left Jihadists.”
Taking effect on July 1, New York City’s new pied-à-terre tax institutes an annual surcharge on luxury New York City homes valued above $5 million that aren't used as the owner's primary residence, and is expected to generate at least $500 million a year. The tax has sparked outrage among conservatives, including Trump.
“The NYC Pied-a-Terre Tax is costing New York City and State a fortune in that the money, eventually to be gotten, is very little compared to to [sic] the TAXES PAID by the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing the City, never to return. Florida, Texas, and numerous other States, are making an absolute fortune!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social.
“Financial, and then Social, RUIN, is a 100% certainty - And then the Radical Left Jihadists charge Congestion Pricing on top of everything else. This doesn’t work in America, and must be stopped, NOW! I am looking to see if the Federal Government has any legal right to avert this disaster, before it is too late, for the millions of people who cherish New York and want to see it thrive, as opposed to becoming a filthy, crime ridden, decrepit place of mockery and scorn.”
Trump has had a tumultuous relationship with Mamdani, at various points calling him a "100% communist lunatic" and warning New Yorkers not to vote for him, while at other times praising him as a "very rational,” a “nice guy” and predicting he could be a "really great mayor."