“It would also be a fairly radical change to how we value these apartments, and that change would invite challenges from these apartment owners,” Rein said.
New York City’s current tax system requires luxury condos and co-ops to be assessed based on the hypothetical income they would generate if they were rental properties, a method that often substantially undervalues them relative to their market sale prices. Changing that assessment system would require approval from the state legislature.
No new property taxes, for now
In February, the mayor floated the idea of raising property taxes by 9.5%, saying it would be the only way to balance the city budget.
The idea was met with fierce backlash from Black homeowners. The New York Times reported that local lawmakers across the political spectrum, from Mamdani’s progressive allies to more centrist Democrats, viewed raising property taxes as a nonstarter. The mayor then quietly walked back on this idea, and instead pushed for Gov. Hochul to raise income taxes for residents making more than $1 million a year. This is because New York City cannot raise taxes without approval from the state legislature. Hochul, who is up for re-election this year, has so far rejected the idea of raising broad-based income and corporate taxes.