Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax isn’t far off Labour’s housing policy. Not that you’ll ever hear Starmer say it

‘The political theatre with which Mamdani packaged his promise is as eye-catching as the policy itself.’ The mayor of New York in Manhattan, June 2025. Photograph: Thalia Juarez/The Guardian

In April, to mark the day on which Americans are expected to file their taxes, the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, filmed himself on Billionaires’ Row, an enclave of super-tall apartment buildings just south of Central Park. When he took office, he said, he would tax the rich, and now, outside the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s $238m penthouse, he was ready to make good on his pledge. “Today, we’re taxing the rich,” he said with a flamboyant smile, zooming his face into the camera. It was the opening to a short film unashamedly titled Happy Tax Day, New York.

He went into battle armed with stats. According to Mark Levine, NYC’s comptroller (a senior financial executive), the pied-à-terre tax on second homes will raise about $500m annually from about 11,200 properties.