This Is How Billionaires Have Reacted To Mamdani's Pied-À-Terre Tax

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]So, Ken Griffin has probably been the most outspoken billionaire about this tax in part because Mondani recorded the announcement in front of one of Griffin's homes, a penthouse here in New York City. But, as you've looked at the billionaires that you cover, how would you describe the reaction to this proposed tax?

[00:00:20]Uh negative in one word. I mean, Ken Griffin is obviously a great example because uh you know, that that property that um the mayor recorded the video in front of was a penthouse that Griffin bought for $238 million, the most expensive home sale ever in New York City history.

[00:00:37]Uh but, you know, there's other uh famous uh billionaires who own homes in the city who have also spoken out.

[00:00:43]Bill Ackman, for example, he's a billionaire who is a resident of New York City, but he also owns, you know, more than one property, right? So, could be wrapped up in the tax. He's come out to criticize it on Twitter recently. And, you know, perhaps one of the most famous uh New York billionaires, you know, President Donald Trump, who obviously famously has his penthouse at uh Trump Tower despite obviously not residing in the city, has also come out against the tax. So, you've really had, you know, a lot of pushback from some of the more high-profile people. Um you know, to the point about Ken Griffin, Citadel, his firm, is developing a massive um office redevelopment in New York City, which could cost around $6 billion.

[00:01:25]They've They've made comments about the potential for, you know, pulling back on that project somewhat. And, they've, you know, simultaneously also uh talked about expanding their office projects in Miami instead. So, you know, that's already one potential uh you know, outcome of of this tax that hasn't even been implemented yet. It hasn't even been implemented. People seem to be disagreeing over the amount that it could raise in New York City. And, I think some of the details are a little unclear. What we do know is that this would look at people who have second, third, or fourth homes in New York City.

[00:02:00]So, they have a primary residence somewhere else. Does it have to be primary? Is there a way to verify where they spend the most time? And, then there's a tax of a certain amount.

[00:02:10]Do we know that amount on on the New York City property?

[00:02:13]Yes. So, it's still pretty unclear now.

[00:02:15]I mean, there's a few different things, you know, to your point that are that still need to be ironed out. You know, one is, you know, if you're already a New York City resident and you have more than one property, will you be included? I I I believe they probably would in the sense of the, you know, what the tax is trying to achieve.

[00:02:30]They can look at sort of the, you know, the roles of residents to determine, right? If you're someone who lives in, you know, London or another city in the US and also own a home here.

[00:02:39]Uh but, then there's also the the problem about, you know, which is something that we do a lot here at Forbes is, you know, how are we valuing them, right? How do you get to this $5 million uh number?

[00:02:49]Because without getting to the weeds of assessments in the real estate world, um the New York City assessed value of a property is incredibly low.

[00:03:00]You know, um I I believe publications have sort of looked at the numbers, but if you look at something like Ken Griffin's, you know, uh penthouse that sold for more than $200 million, the the actual, you know, assessed value for the city is in the millions. It's it's incredibly low. And, the city also does sort of a market value which is a bit higher.

[00:03:18]But, if you looked at it by that metric, so many properties in the city that sell for tens of millions of dollars and, you know, more than a hundred would not even be you potentially include, you know, in within that $5 million higher range.

[00:03:33]And, you could also potentially do it by sort of the last sale uh price, but, you know, what if you know, that sale was 10 years ago?

[00:03:41]And, so the the details of the plan in terms of how things are going to be valued, who is actually going to be hit by it, the rates, that has still not been, you know, fully uh revealed. And, also then it'll have to get through, you know, the the state legislature and you know, if it'll be amended at that point and what the final proposal, if it passes, will look like.