It’s baaack: City Council proposes new “mansion tax”

Measure would take slice of high-dollar resi transactions

The Harkness Mansion on the Upper East Side (inset: Bill de Blasio)
The Harkness Mansion on the Upper East Side (inset: Bill de Blasio)

The City Council is bringing back Mayor Bill de Blasio’s once-defeated “mansion tax” proposal.

The Council included a potential new tax on high-value residential property deals in its response to the mayor’s 2017 budget proposal.

Under the plans, apartment buys over $1.75 million would be taxed at 1 percent, and those worth over $5 million at 1.5 percent. The Council also proposed a new tax on carried interest, the method by which many private equity managers are compensation, the Wall Street Journal reported.

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All told, the lawmakers estimated the taxes would bring in around $410 million next year. The Council earmarked those funds for social programs for immigrants, women and youth. In total, the suggested budget calls for $790 million in new spending.

The Council’s proposed rates are the same as those pitched by de Blasio last year.

That measure was defeated by Albany lawmakers last year. The new proposal would similarly require approval at the state level. [WSJ]Ariel Stulberg