NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin agrees with Mamdani on pied-à-terre tax, but city still needs cuts
Julie Menin, the New York City Council's first Jewish speaker, presides over an activist body that introduced a record 1,200 bills in her first 100 days.
Through the speaker, the City Council represents a check on the powers of the mayor. Sometimes they get along, like Christine Quinn and Mike Bloomberg. Sometimes they do not, like Adrienne Adams and Eric Adams.
Menin's relationship with Mayor Zohran Mamdani is still a work in progress, but the two are in firm agreement on Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed pied-à-terre tax, a surcharge on homes worth over $5 million owned by people who are not New York City residents.
"It think it makes sense because we do have a budget deficit, and so we do need to do something about that, and that is a revenue raiser that would really affect those who aren't living in New York City," Menin said Sunday on CBS News New York's "The Point with Marcia Kramer."
Will the ultrarich leave New York City?
Mamdani aggressively campaigned on taxing the rich, and he promised to govern as a democratic socialist. And while Menin supports the limited pied-à-terre tax, she's not proposing wider tax hikes on the city's wealthiest.
"I support progressive taxation to be clear. I do hope that eventually the federal government will do more progressive taxation, so they're not pitting states against each other because right now we have a situation where we lost 20,000 jobs last year," Menin said. "Many of those jobs have gone to the states of Texas and Florida."
When looking at the city's tax base, people who earn at least $1 million make up 1% of the population. Yet, they pay between 37-47% of the taxes. Is there legitimate concern that these New Yorkers with flexible income would leave the city?
"We've certainly seen job losses to Texas and Florida. It used to be, 20 years ago, that there were triple the number of financial services jobs in New York than there were in the state of Texas. Now the state of Texas has surpassed us," Menin said.
Should Trump pay NYC pied-à-terre tax?
President Trump attacked Mamdani on social media, saying he's "DESTROYING New York" and that "TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG," in response to the proposed pied-à-terre tax.
One could argue that Mr. Trump dislikes the proposal because, as a Florida resident with a multi-million-dollar home on Fifth Avenue, he might have to pay.
Menin said she did not know what the president's motives were behind his post, but said there would not be any exceptions.
"Of course the president has to pay. Everyone has to pay that who qualifies," Menin said. "It's about 13,000 homes that will be affected by the pied-à-terre tax."
Where to make cuts?
Many in the financial sector look at the city budget and think Menin's proposal seems realistic, but Gov. Hochul has told the speaker and Mamdani that the city needs to make cuts.
Menin said the city should be looking for cost savings by cutting, for example, consulting contracts with the Department of Education, which consumes more of the city budget than any other agency, about $40 billion out of $112 billion.
"To be clear, I'm not suggesting any cuts to the schools. What I'm suggesting is $12 billion of the $40 billion are for consulting contracts," she said. "And when we had our oversight hearing on this issue, I asked the Department of Education if they had done any audit of those consulting contracts and they unequivocally said no. So I think that's a real opportunity for savings."
To watch the full interview with Menin, click here.
