Ken Griffin’s New York City property tax bill is reportedly set to go up seven figures, thanks to Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s controversial pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes.
The Citadel founder — whom Mamdani singled out in a viral video filmed outside his Manhattan penthouse in April — is expected to owe an additional $1.3 million to $1.4 million in taxes next year under the new policy, according to calculations by Business Insider.
The new tax, which takes effect July 1, targets high-value second homes owned by people who do not reside primarily in New York City.
Griffin, who lives full-time in Miami and is worth an estimated $48.3 billion, owns three Manhattan residences — his penthouse at 220 Central Park South and two apartments at the storied Upper East Side co-op 740 Park Ave.
The bulk of Griffin’s bill will come from his sprawling 220 Central Park South residence, which he bought for about $238 million in 2019 in what was then the most expensive home sale in US history. Prior to the new levy, Griffin’s tax bill on that property was about $836,526, according to city Finance Department records.
The penthouse carried a market value assessment of $15.55 million last year, city records showed — a much lower figure than Griffin actually paid for the pad as the Finance Department is known for its byzantine system that often lowballs property valuations.
Griffin’s two units at 740 Park Ave. — which he purchased for a combined $83 million over the past year and a half — have a combined assessed value of about $6.2 million based on his ownership stake in the building.
The pied-à-terre tax applies to second homes worth at least $1 million, starting at a rate of 4% and going up to a max of 6.5% for residences worth over $5 million.
The pied-à-terre tax was passed as part of the state budget after Hochul, a Democrat, proposed it with strong support from Mamdani in the spring. The democratic socialist cast the levy as fulfilling his campaign promsie to “tax the rich.”
It quickly became a flashpoint between City Hall and some of New York’s wealthiest residents.
“When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich,” the mayor said in the video trumpeting the tax, citing Griffin’s penthouse as an example of the type of ultra-luxury property targeted by the levy.
Mamdani’s decision to target Griffin in rolling out the policy triggered an immediate backlash from business leaders.
The exec blasted the stunt as “creepy” and warned that Citadel would direct more future hiring and investment to Florida instead of New York.
“We will add far more jobs in Miami over the next decade as an immediate and direct consequence of the mayor’s poor decision here with respect to his posting of that video,” Griffin said in a CNBC interview.
The hedge fund titan also raised doubts about the future of Citadel’s planned $6 billion 350 Park Ave. office tower project.
The dispute turned Griffin into the most prominent symbol of the fight, though he is far from the only billionaire expected to receive a new tax bill.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who resides in Miami and owns at least five apartments at 212 Fifth Ave., is also expected to be affected by the new tax.
Former Starbucks chief Howard Schultz and President Trump, both of whom maintain New York properties while residing elsewhere, are among other high-profile owners expected to pay.
The tax’s ultimate impact could change over time.
Anil Melwani, a CPA with offices in New York and Florida, predicted the tax would discourage purchases of luxury second homes above $5 million and send an unfavorable message to wealthy investors.
“It’s definitely a bad signal for sure,” he told The Post.
“It’s going to stop people from buying apartments $5 million and above. That’s for sure,” Melwani added. “Why would they spend $5 million and then have to start to pay another annual tax?”
The accountant, who moved from Manhattan to Miami in 2022 and now operates in both states, said the broader risk of wealthy residents and businesses relocating to lower-tax states remains real.
But he stopped short of predicting an economic catastrophe for the Big Apple.
“I don’t think it’s going to hurt the general economic activity because it’s such a niche thing,” Melwani said, noting that affluent visitors may simply choose hotels or short-term rentals instead of purchasing second homes.
City officials estimate the pied-à-terre tax will generate between $340 million and $500 million in annual revenue.
But Victoria Shtainer, a New York City real estate broker who is also licensed in Florida, told The Post that the city’s revenue projections may be overly optimistic because they fail to account for how buyers could change their behavior.
Shtainer pointed to data from the United Kingdom showing that a similar tax caused luxury homes to take 29% longer to sell while roughly 40% of listings cut their asking prices.
She warned that if high-end transactions slow, the city could lose revenue from transfer taxes and mansion taxes that are generated when properties change hands.
“If buyers pull back and transactions stall by nearly 30%, the money lost from a frozen transaction market could easily outpace whatever the city manages to collect from the new surcharge,” Shtainer told The Post.
The Post has sought comment from Griffin and Mamdani.
Additional reporting by Mary K. Jacob
