The NYC Tax List is turning a heated debate over New York’s proposed pied-à-terre tax into an unexpected celebrity story.
Hundreds of thousands of properties have been identified as potentially falling under the plan, placing everyone from Taylor Swift and Anna Wintour to Cynthia Nixon on a publicly released Department of Finance list.
While appearing on the list does not mean those property owners will ultimately pay the tax, the publication has already stirred controversy after some elected officials argued their homes should never have been included.
The proposed tax, backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, is aimed at high-value homes that are not used as their owners’ primary residences.
As part of the proposal, the New York City Department of Finance published a database of properties that could potentially fall within the policy’s reach.
Among the names identified by the New York Post were Taylor Swift, whose Tribeca property appears under the entity “Euro Tribeca LLC.”
The document also lists longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour and actress Cynthia Nixon, who publicly supported Mamdani during his mayoral campaign.
The NYC Tax list extends beyond those three familiar names. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is also included, along with properties connected to the Woody Allen 2005 Revocable Trust, Helen Morris Scorsese, author Deepak Chopra, journalist Gay Talese and the trust of late “60 Minutes” anchor Morley Safer.
NYC Tax List Extends Far Beyond Hollywood
3While celebrities have attracted much of the attention, the database also captures influential figures from New York’s corporate and political landscape.
Properties connected to billionaire Leonard Stern, developers Morris Moinian and Bruce Ratner, former CBRE brokerage chairman Stephen Siegel, and Randy Mastro, who previously served as Eric Adams’ first deputy mayor, also appear among the entries.
Wintour’s inclusion has drawn additional interest because of her recent comments about Mamdani’s family.
Earlier this year, she praised the mayor’s wife, Rama Duwaji, saying she was “full of admiration” for her despite criticism surrounding Duwaji’s social media activity.
The publication of the database has also prompted questions about whether every property was correctly identified.
Two New York City Council members discovered addresses connected to them on the NYC Tax list despite maintaining that the homes are their primary residences, not second homes.
District 6 Councilmember Gale Brewer challenged the designation outright. “I’ve been living in [my place] 365 days a year since 1994,” Brewer said of her Upper West Side brownstone before adding, “So this whole list must be messed up.”
Council Minority Leader David Carr also questioned the proposal after his property appeared in the database, using the moment to criticize the mayor’s plan.
Carr joked that Mamdani was “a shoo-in for ‘Realtor of the Year’ in Texas,” referencing concerns that additional taxes could encourage affluent homeowners to leave New York for states with lower tax burdens.
Mamdani’s NYC Tax List Sparks Fresh Privacy Concerns
The celebrity-filled NYC Tax List represented only a small portion of a much larger database released as part of Mamdani’s tax rollout.
The New York City Department of Finance published a searchable online list identifying more than 960,000 properties that could potentially fall under the proposed pied-à-terre tax, including the names and mailing addresses of their owners.
The move followed Mamdani’s social media message telling second-home owners to “check your mailbox when you’re back in the five boroughs, because you’ve got mail,” as notices began going out.
“The best city in the world deserves the best parks, libraries, and schools in the world. That’s only possible when we all pay our fair share,” he added on X.
Meanwhile, the administration has said the Department of Finance will still determine which properties ultimately meet the criteria for the surcharge.
Critics Slam Mayor Zohran Mamdani Over NYC Tax List Post
3The tweet sparked an immediate wave of responses, with many users voicing frustration over the proposal and the release of property owners’ information.
“For every home that you listed is burgled or squatted in, I hope they all sue you to hell and back as an accessory to the offence,” one angry user wrote.
Another commenter wrote, “I really am sick of you all saying ‘pay your fair share.’ You sound like a broken record,” before questioning, “What is everyone’s fair share? You eventually run out of other people’s money.”
A third user criticized Mamdani’s tone, asking, “How stupid can you be taunting them?” before arguing that “Many people in that class will just sell and leave.” The commenter also questioned the city’s handling of permits for churches that had been destroyed by fires.
A fourth commenter predicted the proposal would backfire, writing, “People in NYC are going to find out the hard way,” while claiming the city would be left with “only the empty promises of a rug merchant.”