By Sam Barron | Thursday, 16 April 2026 08:52 PM EDT
Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said on Thursday that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Governor Kathy Hochul are working to make the state less affordable with their pied-a-terre tax proposal.
The plan would tax luxury second homes in New York City owned by non-residents.
“Mamdani talks about affordability, but what he’s really doing is making New York City even more unaffordable,” Stefanik said.
“It’s also going to further exacerbate the mass exodus of families, businesses, and property owners,” she added. “And we see there’s no other state in the nation where more people left last year than New York State.”
Stefanik noted Governor Hochul had promised not to raise taxes.
“And what did she do on Tax Day? She bent the knee to the socialists and agreed to raising taxes, breaking her promise for New Yorkers,” Stefanik said. “This is an example of single party Democrat rule.”
“The socialists have taken over the New York Democrat Party, and it’s a harbinger of what’s to come nationally,” she added. “The socialists are full blown mainstream in the Democrat Party.”
The congresswoman said Mayor Mamdani lacks a mandate to govern, noting he barely broke 50% in last year’s election.
“That is an underperformance in the city of New York, where he was the Democrat Party nominee. Typically, they get in the 70s or 80%,” Stefanik said. “He’s at war with the New York City Council.”
“It’s going to be a rocky couple of years ahead for the people of New York and the just sheer lack of competency— their inability to shovel the snow was a disaster in his first 100 days in office,” she stated. “And ultimately, the New York people are going to suffer. It is a parody.”
