Wednesday was April 15th – Tax Day.
I don’t enjoy it any more (or any less) than anyone else, but, like a birthday, it’s inevitable and is on the calendar whether you wish it was or not.
The Trump administration and the working parts of this barely Republican congress of ours tried last year to make it more palatable, and I’m hoping their efforts succeeded for at least some of you all. And for those of you who couldn’t reap all the bennies, I hope the rejiggered rates, etc., provided some relief.
What I did not need to see on Wednesday evening was the smirking visage of the communist clown that New York City saddled itself with.
And really, Zohran Mamdani might be physically attractive in that perky, plastic, TikTok sort of way, but he does not improve with repeated viewings.
This ‘Happy Tax Day’ stunt of his was particularly obnoxious, hit me all the wrong ways, and this man has nothing to do with any aspect of my life – that’s how off-putting he is.
Check this out if you haven’t seen it yet. Tell me he doesn’t get on your last nerve.
Happy Tax Day, New York. We’re taxing the rich. pic.twitter.com/Wky2LFXC9W
— Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@NYCMayor) April 15, 2026
So this racist grifter, who grew up in a wealthy family, lives in a rent-subsidized apartment and owns God knows how much property in Uganda, is ‘taxing the rich’ people’s second homes in the City, acting as if they don’t already pay significant taxes on those.
And he’s publicly calling out – basically shaming – individuals who have never had any inference or accusation that they do not pay all their taxes, as if they somehow owe the city more money for the privilege of being wealthy and owning property in NY.
…Griffin relocated Citadel’s headquarters from Chicago to Miami in 2022, drawn by Florida’s lack of a personal income tax. He shares the move with Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, all of whom recently left high-tax states and now maintain Florida residences. Griffin also recently paid $38 million for a duplex apartment up the block from where Mamdani shot the video, according to the Wall Street Journal.
They have simply committed the unforgivable sin of removing themselves from New York as full-time residents while it’s still a free country.
“Parasites” like Griffin pay NY huge sums to own here on top of crazy real estate taxes.
There is a transfer tax when an apartment sells – over 2% for sales > $2MM. And there is a mansion tax of 3.9% for sales > $25MM.
That’s about $14MM in taxes collected just for the…
— Adam Davis (@AdamDavisNYC) April 17, 2026
…And there is a mansion tax of 3.9% for sales > $25MM.
That’s about $14MM in taxes collected just for the Griffin penthouse transaction. Seems like NY they could use more parasites.
These taxes make it hard on middle income NYers too – percentages are less but they are still brutal. Yet another reason so many are leaving.
Weird the Commie didn’t mention the mansion tax Mr Griffin paid.
This is so un-American at its core, but that’s Mamdani. If I were ‘hedge fund CEO’ Ken Griffin, after this little stunt of the mayor’s, I would start divesting myself of property in the city, as I was obviously considered one of two things: either persona non grata or a chicken to be perpetually plucked.
I mean, ‘parasite’ is pretty loaded language to describe taxpayers, but that is truly how they are treating part-time residents.
Hochul and Mamdani are cutting the final ties of these former residents as virtual parasites. Mandani denounced those who “store their wealth in New York City real estate [and] reap the huge financial rewards” while “hurt[ing] working New Yorkers.” …https://t.co/tei7RBDDL9
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) April 17, 2026
As someone who has been reluctant to endorse funding methods in order to bless many of Mamdani’s socialist plans, daffy NY Governor Kathy Hochul couldn’t wait to jump on the bus for this one, inexplicably issuing her own ‘Happy Tax Day’ slamma-jamma dig at the wealthier part-time residents of her state.
New York, New York — if you can make it here . . . we don’t want you.
Gov. Kathy Hochul used Tax Day to announce a new fee targeting wealthy people who still linger in the city after moving their primary residences to other states.
The tax, called pied-à-terre (or “foot on the ground”) is designed to hit people who still maintain high-value properties in the city. It is a remarkably moronic effort to ensure that wealthy people cut all ties with the city.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a socialist who supports the “decommodification” of private property, is seeking major tax increases, including a 10% property tax, to fund his pledges for free buses, city-run stores and other policies.
The new measure, which would raise an estimated $500 million for the state, would add a fee to existing taxes for owners of high-value properties worth more than $5 million.
I vividly remember Hochul telling people to leave New York, the mad panic when they did, and then the appeal to ‘patriotism’ as she begged them to return and bring friends along from Palm Beach to help support NY’s social programs.
Not a balanced and responsible budget, you see. But ‘cut me some checks’ to support social programs.
Of course, they stayed gone. They’re not as stupid as the governor.
“I feel no need to appease anyone,” Hochul says when asked if this new pied-a-terre tax is a way to placate Mamdani, Bernie Sanders & others pushing to tax the rich.
“We’re trying to help the city and whittle it down. I’m a partner to this mayor, and so I have found a path.” pic.twitter.com/j9PrxYScoj
— Josie Stratman (@JosieStratman) April 15, 2026
So now the strategy is to chase off the few foolish enough to maintain a presence for work convenience or out of sheer nostalgia?
Brilliant progressive #mathz again.
Two weeks ago Hochul was begging New Yorkers to come back from Palm Beach.
Now she and Mamdani are treating them like parasites.
370,000+ already left NY & CA. $23.5 billion in income gone.
New York’s tax base is eroding. And New York is eroding with it.
— Chuck Flint (@ChuckAFlint) April 17, 2026
Anyone but a foaming-at-the-mouth, broke progressive socialist could see how counter-productive this is.
Mayor Mamdani is pumped about the pied-a-tierre tax, arguing that it “targets ultrawealthy out-of-city residents and global elites who use New York City real estate as a vehicle for wealth storage rather than as homes.”
If the goal is to discourage rich non-residents who want to… https://t.co/HYeTyWY8Kc
— Reihan Salam (@reihan) April 15, 2026
If the goal is to discourage rich non-residents who want to own homes in NYC, this is coherent. And the proposal does fit the left-Trumpist sensibility of the mayor’s (not huge) base, so there’s that.
As a way out of NYC’s fiscal challenges, however, it is almost certainly counterproductive.
Consider that while the owners of pied-a-tierres pay property and transfer taxes, they don’t consume taxpayer services. It’s hard to dispute that the net fiscal impact of pied-a-tierres is positive.
Tax something, get less of it. In this case, we’ll presumably have fewer absentee property owners bidding up property values for $5M+ homes. That, of course, will dampen valuations, which in turn will dampen property and transfer tax revenues. (Notably, while building more housing will tend to lower valuations of individual units, it would tend to increase overall property tax revenues.)
The next step will be lowering the threshold from $5M to $1M and so on.
Two possibilities: Hochul and Mamdani understand this, but they’ve backed themselves into a corner and concluded that this is the best of a series of bad alternatives. Or they don’t understand this, which would be even more worrisome.
I don’t see this being as lucrative as predicted nor the warm glow of the proposed daylight robbery scheme lasting.
If this keeps up, I’m not sure about that second term, Mamdani feels assured of, either.
I know everyone thinks you’re an economically illiterate, race baiting buffoon but I do think you’re gonna be GREAT on dancing with star stars when this term ends.
— Jimmy Failla (@jimmyfailla) April 15, 2026
Then again, he has that schweet second crib in Uganda…unless they’ve been watching what he’s doing and start getting ideas.
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