Stephen Green writes for PJMedia.com about an interesting source of criticism about the socialist New York City mayor.
Dem strategist Mark Penn took to X during the wee hours Wednesday morning to warn the public about “the lie of socialism” represented by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, but it’s really a cry for help over what’s happening to his party.
Before we get to that, however, you need to understand just what a colossal screw-up Mamdani’s pied-a-terre tax really is. Because if what Penn says is correct — and apparently it is — it’s a colossal screw-up by design. And an oh-so-bitter taste of what New Yorkers are stuck with for the next three-and-a-half years.
In a piece headlined “Welcome to Socialism,” Penn wrote that Mamdani’s administration “with fanfare” released its list of “960,000 owners of real estate in New York City that have been determined they could owe the pied-a-terre tax because NYC computers have determined they own what was billed as a market value of $5 million or more.”
So far, so socialist, right?
But, Penn added, “there are only about one million residential tax lots in New York City so the first question is how did virtually every owner get put on the list?”
Welcome to socialism, indeed.
“The answer is that you are subject to the tax in the first two years if your property has a “DOF valuation” of over $1 million. And so the $5 million figure was a fake,” Penn concluded. But here’s where we got to what Penn called “the interesting part” with understatement he must have choked on: “Once you are on the list you have to prove you should not be taxed by showing you are a resident. Or by challenging the valuation.”
“Good luck fighting the city bureaucrats on both of these counts. The individual litigation will be massive.”
Socialism always starts with “soak the rich” but always ends with “stick it to everybody.” Mamdani is notable only for his speed.
