Of course, the foundation policy of all Marxist policymakers and politicians is to punish the rich. So nobody should be surprised that Hizzoner Comrade Mamdani of NYfC has a plan to tax residences in Manhattan that are adjudged to be non-primary — i.e. the so-called pied-à-terre dwellings of those people who need a place to doss down during the week before fleeing to their houses in Lawn Guyland or Scawsdale for the weekend.
To my surprise, this little smash ‘n grab tax thievery has had its peepee severely whacked by a judge:
Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi issued a temporary restraining order effectively prohibiting any action on the luxury second home tax until an August 31 hearing on a lawsuit filed by three disgruntled homeowners.
Ozzi also hit out at Mamdani’s decision to release a list of the homeowners who could potentially be hit by the tax, many of whom were sent notices warning they would be liable unless they filed an exemption.
‘No law permitted or required the City to publish such a list of the names, addresses and property values of more than 900,000 New York City homeowners, or to publicize that list through an irregular, mid-year publication,’ Ozzi wrote in his decision.
‘[The judgment] annuls and vacates [the] city’s mailed notices, and any determination that such mailed notices constitute proper notice under tax law.’
He added that city officials should have conducted an ‘individualized statutorily-required initial determination’ before issuing the notices to homeowners, so as to not place the burden on the property owners.
The judge then barred city officials from taking any further action on the 17,000 notices sent by the Department of Finance, which warned they would face a five-figure tax bill unless they requested an exemption.
Hubba hubba. For once, a New York judge got it right.
Sadly, it’s not going to end there, because the Marxists’ ravenous appetite to punish the wealthy and successful knows no bounds — even legal ones like this one — and at some point in the future, sure as sugar, those taxes will be imposed.
While I hate Marxists with a passion, especially when they engage in theft of this nature, I have to suspect that among those 900,000 unfortunate people are an awful lot — 50%? 60%? — who can be reliably counted on to vote Democrat in their elections, because New York. So in this case, they’re getting what they voted for, good and hard.
And I’m not sympathetic.
I would take a step back relative to the foundations of Marxism.
Certainly they want to soak the rich (eliminate really) but it starts with why. The why is because of the labor theory of value – which suggests that all value is based on labor (and zero value to capital, ideas, organization, etc.) So virtually anyone who is rich is so because they “stole” the labor value from others.
Labor theory of value is of course bunk (which even Soviet economists had to admit, but kept because they had no other politically acceptable alternative). So everything that follows from it is bunk, but the Marxist like what they can justify under it, so it sticks.
Correct, they steal from “the rich” only because it’s easy to rile up “the proletariat”, aka the “unwashed masses”, to think they are being abused by “the rich”.
In reality they just soak up everything and anything to feed into “the system”. A system that exists for the sole purpose of keeping “the proletariat” working at pointless jobs so they feel like they’re “doing their patriotic duty” (little different from forcing American school children to recite a pledge to the flag every day btw).
And of course a system that can very quickly only survive by having the workers produce the basest of raw materials (as education is bad, educated people tend to see through the farce) for export, generating hard currency that can be used to import the food the farms aren’t producing because the farmers were classified as “enemies of the revolution” and forced from their land.
Which serves another purpose too, keeping “the proletariat” hungry, poor, and dependent on the government for even the most basic means of survival, making uprisings all but impossible to succeed.
If that were true, then nothing would ever be sold at a below labor-value price, and inflation would also not exist, because what a man could do would be relatively fixed by effort.
As I said once about someone saying that Karl Marx was an economist, “And I’m a world-renown brain surgeon”
When do we get to play Cowboys and Commies? This time there won’t be any left to put on reservations on into gulags or re-education camp.
Of course that presupposes that the Leftists are fanatical to try to do the elimination themselves. There’s nothing to prevent them from fleeing to another part of the country, abandoning all but the clothes on their backs and pretending to be penniless refugees fleeing from the Leftists and in need of shelter, food, medicine, clothing, and whatnot, similar to how many able-bodied men were seeking asylum in America and Europe. If only there were some sort of psychological test to be administered like in the very first Blade Runner film.
I would expect that the owners of these high end properties that are the the target for these greedy Marxist’s are NOT New York Voters. I suspect they fall into several categories.
1. Foreign owners – Wealthy Middle East, Chinese ( both Mainland and Taiwan ) , South American and some remaining European individuals that need a place in NYC for the 20 to 30 Days a year they are in town.
2. Corporate ownership. Apartments maintained for visiting C level executives of large corporations while in NYC.
3. Individuals/Families with. Multiple residences across the country. – Places in California, Montana/Aspen/Telluride., south east US. / Fla – Etc.
None of these are NYC Voters or Primary residendents. – That’s what makes them such easy targets for Mondami.
He seems to forget this the same crowd that has a large team of Lawyers and accountants on Retainer looking for things to do for those retainer hours.
Unless and until those companies and people see the error in their ways and leave New York, they’re funding Mandani like policies and can be assumed to agree with them.
Which is one reason why there are a number of unsold condos on billionaire row and that number is growing not shrinking. Same with downtown office space and retail space. The exodus is underway. The high end of the Tax base is mobile and has options that the rest of the populations is next in line for more taxes. ——. Never less spending
Someone once wrote the phrase “Let Africa Sink” I feel the same way about NYFC. Build a wall around it, make it a prison ala John Carpenter.
Can we do the same with London, Birmingham, Manchester, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Paris, Madrid, LA, Seattle, Portland, to name but a few?
I like where your mind is on this.
I dunno, man… Amsterdam?
Maybe replace it with Shitcago?
The formerly wonderful cities of London, Amsterdam and Paris could be saved with a good cleansing of Shitholians.
If we had ham, we could have ham & eggs….if we had eggs, and a pan to fry them in.