New York Lawmakers Planning First-Of-Its-Kind Tax On $1 Million Homes Purchased With Cash, Report Says

Forbes ^ | 05/14/2026 | Antonio Pequeño

[SeekAndFind]

Key Facts

• New York lawmakers are planning the tax, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the state budget negotiations who noted the proposal would be levied at 1% of the buying price and be paid by buyers.

• The legislators are also considering expanding the tax to $1 million or more cash purchases in the state that would incorporate the suburbs and upstate New York, Bloomberg added.

• The tax in New York City alone could generate up to $160 million, according to the unnamed sources Bloomberg cited.

• A spokesperson for Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., told Bloomberg she “announced a general agreement with the State Legislature on many of the major elements of the FY 2027 Budget,” adding the finalized budget would provide additional details.

• The new tax is the latest move out of New York to improve the city’s budget through property tax hikes, as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Hochul are also trying to push through a pied-à-terre tax on secondary homes worth $5 million or more in the city.

  Forbes has reached out to the offices of Hochul and Mamdani.

  What To Watch For

  The full New York state budget has yet to be approved as Hochul has said agreements have been made on key matters including funding for universal child care, rising energy costs and infrastructure. The budget was due on April 1 before a series of extensions were passed, with lawmakers now aiming to finalize the budget before the end of May.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: budget; classwarfare; grift; newyork; property; realty; ripoff; tax; theft

[SeekAndFind]

NYC Mayor Mamdani, with support from Hochul, is advancing the pied-à-terre tax estimated to generate at least $500 million to improve what Mamdani has called a $12 billion budget gap.

Hochul has not generally supported taxes on the wealthy, but since the pied-à-terre tax targets people whose official, primary residences are outside New York, she is more supportive of it than other proposals against wealthy residents, according to The New York Times.

Billionaire Ken Griffin’s hedge fund Citadel suggested last month it may review its $6 billion planned expansion in Midtown after Mamdani announced the pied-à-terre tax in a video that was recorded outside the building that houses Griffin’s New York City penthouse.

[SeekAndFind]

MORE HERE:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/14/nyregion/nyc-second-home-tax-rates.html

[EXCERPT]

A new tax surcharge on the second homes of wealthy part-time residents of New York City would initially target co-ops and condos that have at least $1 million in “market value,” a bureaucratic metric that often vastly understates a home’s actual worth.

The proposed second-home tax plan, which Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed to state legislative leaders on Thursday, would be instituted in two phases. For the next two years, second homes with a “market value” of $1 million or more will face a tax surcharge between 4 percent and 6.5 percent — in addition to their existing property tax obligations.

But because the so-called market value diverges from a property’s actual sales value, especially at the highest end of the market, it is unclear how many homes would be affected by the tax.

The governor’s office claims that a $1 million “market value” is the equivalent to a sales value of about $5 million. But the disparity is often even more pronounced. One Midtown Manhattan penthouse that has a current market value of about $4.2 million sold in 2024 for more than $135 million.

[Keyser Soze 84]

All my fault. I am the one who argues that property taxes are how the rich & urban poor screw the middle class homeowner. The poor don’t own property, the rich own antiques, artwork, cars, precious metal, gems, wine collections worth more than middle class homes, buy their homes with cash & easily can afford property taxes without having the monthly mortgage payments middle class homeowners have.
I guess some people listened to me & the devil whispered ideas into their commie minds. Oh well.

[Keyser Soze 84]

All my fault. I am the one who argues that property taxes are how the rich & urban poor screw the middle class homeowner. The poor don’t own property, the rich own antiques, artwork, cars, precious metal, gems, wine collections worth more than middle class homes, buy their homes with cash & easily can afford property taxes without having the monthly mortgage payments middle class homeowners have.
I guess some people listened to me & the devil whispered ideas into their commie minds. Oh well.

[Keyser Soze 84]

Sort of violates equal protection, does it not?

[Libloather]

The budget was due on April 1st. And this is the best they got?

[allendale]

The near majority of homes selling in NYC, Long Island and the northern suburbs are selling for a million dollars or more as are most condominiums in Manhattan. The super rich and the foreign investors will simply pay as long as living in Manhattan is fashionable, possible and residential real estate prices hold. However it will cause the value of those suburban homes to weaken a bit as saavy buyer exit the area. Overall this new tax will hurt New York.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The tax in New York City alone could generate up to $160 million...

Chump change for Albany and their $260-billion budget.

They could save ten times that by eliminating a few Learing Centers.

[roadcat]

The budget was due on April 1st. And this is the best they got?

It doesn’t occur to these lawmakers that they could reduce expenses and balance budgets. They’re mindless ghouls, their only thought is tax and spend!

In California, where there is a massive budget deficit, Gov Newsom and his cronies spent millions of tax dollars to supply prison inmates with 90,000 iPads so they could have digital equity. The prison inmates, even on death row, are enjoying watching internet porn at taxpayer expense.

Democrats are insane and pure evil, whether it be New York or elsewhere! I watched part of the pre-election debates for California governor race. The Democrat candidates promise to erase poverty by giving free childcare, free housing for college students, free energy, etc. - in the name of reducing high prices and poverty. Of course “free” means raising taxes everywhere!

[Lazamataz]

I am sooo grateful I left that Godforsaken state so many years ago, settling in the Great State of Georgia (after a brief, mistaken relocation to Illinois).

[Repeal The 17th]

So...
pay 90% in cash and finance 10%
and pay that off in 90 days...

[tired&retired]

Another incentive to own your home inside an LLC and just sell the stock in the LLC rather than the real property.

[alexander_busek]

New York Lawmakers Planning First-Of-Its-Kind Tax On $1 Million Homes Purchased With Cash

I confess that I don't understand the focus here on homes purchased with cash.

Why should commie liberals give a hoot if someone buys a home with a briefcase filled with $100 bills (= cash) as opposed to, e.g., by means of the electronic transfer of funds?

What makes paying in pallets of unmarked, used, small-denomination bills (with non-sequential serial numbers) somehow more reprehensible, or tax-worthy, in their eyes, than simply wiring the funds from a numbered Swiss bank account?

Regards,

[Brian Griffin]

The rich should rent.

[nuke_road_warrior]

The legislators are also considering expanding the tax to $1 million or more cash purchases ...

Drug dealers, mafia dons, and politicians hardest hit.

[clashfan]

They mean with cash versus with financing with a mortgageThat could mean cash, check, or whatever kind of payment without financing or any lien on the property.

[faithhopecharity]

see my tagline

[TonyM]

The rich should leave! With broadband and Amazon delivery you can live pretty much anywhere on earth so why live in a New York two bedroom flat for a million dollars when you could buy a mansion many places on earth where the weather is better and has less crime.

[Veto!]

The millionaires are probably buying county estates right now when their NYC properties sell. I actually knew a couple of them a long time ago when I published their books at company I worked for. One, who did have a country house, died years ago.

The other is still beautiful and in NYC . Psychologist who married into the Dayton family that owns Target Stores.She and I became friends, had a lot of fun running around NYC when I was in town. Maybe I’ll get in touch.

[AZJeep]

Purchased by cash.
________________

This will rise exactly $ 0 money!
Since now, all homes in NY will be purchased with mortgage!
Mortgages with huge down payment, as much as allowed to avoid the tac. Maybe 99% down payment?