Mamdani's Tax Database Doxed Wealthy New Yorkers
The New York City mayor painted a target on wealthy taxpayers.
Making an enemies list is creepy. Publishing the names of people you dislike to fuel political supporters' prejudices is even creepier and potentially dangerous. That's what New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration has done with the introduction of a property tax surcharge on relatively high-value second homes linked to a searchable online database of those who could be affected. The socialist mayor's defenders point out that tax and property information is a matter of public record in New York, but the packaged publication of surcharge targets and Mamdani's history of calling out opponents by name suggests something nastier is going on.
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A Tax on Second Homes Worth $1 Million or More
"If you have a second home in New York City worth more than $5M, check your mailbox when you're back in the five boroughs — because you've got mail," Mamdani announced on July 23. "Today, we sent notification letters to property owners, letting them know that our new pied-à-terre tax is coming soon."
The non-primary residence property surcharge, as it's called on the Department of Finance website, actually applies to "one-, two-, and three-family homes valued by DOF at more than $5 million" and "condominium and cooperative units valued by DOF at $1 million or more." The surcharge can add up to anything from 0.8 percent to 6.5 percent of market value.
The application of the surcharge to million-dollar-plus condos and co-ops sounds like a rarefied segment of property owners to many Americans, but it scoops up a large number of homes in the city's pricey housing market. As of 2024, the average price for condos in Manhattan was $2.98 million and for coops was $1.34 million, according to The New York City Broker. The outer boroughs are less expensive, though Brooklyn condos still average $1.28 million.
Publicly Targeting Alleged Owners of Second Homes
More concerning, though, is that the people and properties allegedly affected by the surcharge are broken out in a searchable database accessible through the Department of Finance website. Such tax information is publicly available in New York, but it's not often so neatly packaged.
"While the information cited in the database is part of the public record, it is unusual for it to be aggregated and compiled into a user-friendly searchable platform that provides easy access to the locations of many prominent business and entertainment figures," reported Phil Hall for Weekly Real Estate News.
That's concerning at a time when politicians have grown increasingly comfortable publicly vilifying people who disagree with them or who are simply wealthier than their political allies like.
"This was in poor form as publishing names/addresses singles out people who have done nothing wrong, at a moment when the far extremes of the political spectrum already treat success itself as something to be punished," warned Steven Fulop, president and CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization that boosts the city. "Most of the people on that list aren't billionaires by any stretch—they're people that believed in NYC, worked hard and bought a second home. All this does is make people feel less safe in their own city, and less welcome in it."
The suspicion, based on Mamdani's past conduct, is that making some people feel less safe and less welcome in New York City is the whole point. The mayor initially announced the second-home surcharge in a video recorded outside a building where hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin owns a large condo. The video cited Griffin by name as a tax target.
"This pied-à-terre tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate but don't actually live here," Mamdani claimed in the April 2026 video. He also insisted the tax would apply only to "luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full-time in the city."
But as mentioned above, the tax is being applied to properties worth less than the average price in Brooklyn and Manhattan, totaling up to roughly 960,000 properties in the database, though most will ultimately not be subject to the surcharge. By New York City standards, those owners are not necessarily the richest of the rich at all. But they're prosperous enough to stir the socialist mayor's backers into a frenzy of envy, which is probably the intention.
"To class warriors like Mamdani, success in a capitalist economy is akin to theft," cautioned the Washington Post editorial board. "Political 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."
Where Malice Meets Incompetence
Many of those drawing the ire of the mayor and his backers appear to be victims of incompetence as much as of malice. Writer Alex Berenson says his 81-year-old mother received a notice that she owes $55,048 in second-home taxes even though the named townhouse is her sole property and residence of 30 years. She's not alone. Department of Finance Commissioner Richard Lee admitted during a July 29 press conference that the city may have used outdated information in compiling its list of properties subject to the tax. Amidst a chorus of outrage, the city extended the deadline for homeowners to demonstrate that they're exempt. Whether or not they succeed, their names and addresses remain available in the database.
Even some of Mamdani's backers regret the malicious way the tax has been implemented. Podcaster and New York University marketing professor Scott Galloway, whose property appears in the database, complained "I've been doxed" about the publication of his information. "He's taken a legitimate source of tax revenue and he's turning it into a wanted poster," Galloway commented about the mayor. "18 months after a health-care CEO was executed in the street….What is the upside here? Why is he doing this?" he asked, referring to the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Thompson was assassinated in New York City by, allegedly, a man motivated to stalk and kill by his disapproval of the CEO's business decisions. That should be warning enough that calling out perceived class enemies and playing to your political base's hatreds is dangerous.
But we live in dangerous times. In an age of weaponized hatreds, just being suspected of success can get you on politicians' enemy lists.
