Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen is pushing back against a New York City compliance letter requiring him to prove his Upper East Side condo is his primary residence, or face nearly $50,000 in new taxes under Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pied-à-terre surcharge.
Cohen, who has owned a unit at Trump Park Avenue, the former Hotel Delmonico, and paid city property taxes for 34 years, told the New York Post that the letter arrived earlier this week. It informed him he may need to submit federal or state tax returns, a driver's license, and Social Security numbers for everyone living at the address. Because his condo is held in a trust, the city also wants copies of the trust agreement or an affidavit from the managing member.
The demand landed on Cohen alongside tens of thousands of other New York property owners swept into the Mamdani administration's dragnet, a compliance campaign so broad that it dwarfs the number of properties the tax actually targets. The city's Department of Finance released a supplemental property roll containing more than 960,000 records, Newsmax reported, even though an estimated 11,200 properties are expected to actually pay the surcharge.
That is a ratio of roughly 86 records published for every one property the city expects to tax, a fact that has drawn sharp criticism from both affected residents and elected officials.
Cohen, who served as a key witness against President Trump in New York State's 2023 business fraud case but has since mended fences with Trump, did not hold back about the letter's requirements. He told the Post he is a registered voter in the city and questioned why a 34-year taxpayer should have to prove residency at all.
"I have been paying NYC property taxes for 34 years. I'm registered as a voter here yet now I have to go through the exercise in demonstrating to the city that I'm a resident."
His sharpest objection targeted the sensitive personal data the city is collecting. Cohen said he could not submit the compliance form without including his tax return, and he raised pointed questions about who inside the Mamdani administration would have access to the information, and how securely it would be stored.
"Who would give their tax returns? This is beyond abnormal."
"Who is going to have access to this information and use it? Will the people in the administration all have access and where is it going to sit? Is it a secured website?"
Cohen also made clear he views the demand through a political lens, expressing concern about handing financial records to an administration led by a self-described democratic socialist.
"I'm extremely concerned about submitting this information to a democratic socialist who has campaigned and continues to campaign on taking dollars out of the pockets of wealthy New Yorkers or anyone he perceives to be wealthy."
Mamdani's office did not answer the Post's request for comment.
Beyond the compliance letters, the Mamdani administration published a searchable online database listing full names and addresses of property owners who could fall under the new tax. Carolyn Richmond, an employment labor attorney who also appeared on the list, told the Post she found it alarming.
"It was very disconcerting to see my name listed and to see many of my neighbors."
Richmond characterized the public list as an attempt at humiliating New Yorkers who have earned their success.
"[It is] shaming everyone in this city who has worked hard to succeed."
The database's breadth has drawn bipartisan objections. City Council Minority Leader David Carr, a Staten Island Republican, called the rollout reckless. As Newsmax reported, Carr said it was "a reckless and foolish move, especially considering there are potentially thousands of properties on this list that do not qualify as second homes or whose owners will successfully dispute their inclusion." Democratic Councilmember Gale Brewer, whose own home appeared on the roll, told reporters she has lived in her place "365 days a year since 1994" and said "this whole list must be messed up."
When even longtime Democratic officeholders are flagged as suspected absentee owners of luxury second homes, the compliance system has a credibility problem.
The pied-à-terre tax passed as part of the New York State budget earlier this year, co-authored by Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul. It targets second homes valued at $5 million or more, along with condos and co-ops worth at least $1 million that are unoccupied non-primary residences. Tax rates for condos and co-ops range from 4% to 6.5%. Revenue projections vary: Hochul has estimated the tax will generate at least $500 million annually, while Comptroller Mark Levine has projected a lower figure of $340 million to $380 million, citing exemptions and behavioral changes by property owners.
Mamdani made no secret of his enthusiasm. When promoting the tax, he released a video singling out Citadel founder Ken Griffin's $238 million New York City apartment. National Review reported that Citadel's chief operating officer, Gerald Beeson, fired back in an internal email, calling Mamdani's approach "shameful" and noting that Griffin and Citadel contribute significantly to the city's economy. Beeson included a veiled threat: the firm was considering pulling out of a planned $6 billion Park Avenue office development expected to generate $4.5 billion in economic activity, 6,200 construction jobs, and 15,200 permanent positions.
Hochul, for her part, framed the tax as narrowly aimed. Fox News reported the governor said, "It is not a tax on residents. That is so important. We're talking about people who are ultrawealthy." Mamdani was blunter: "When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we're taxing the rich."
But the compliance dragnet tells a different story. The city cast its net over 960,000 property records to find an estimated 11,200 taxable ones. In the process, it demanded tax returns and Social Security numbers from longtime primary residents, published their names and addresses in a public database, and left property owners scrambling to prove they live in their own homes. Recipients who received notification letters must submit exemption evidence by late August, with approved charges appearing on bills due January 1, 2027.
Mamdani has said the revenue will fund city services including free childcare, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods. Those are worthy goals. But the administration's execution has managed to unite a former Trump fixer, a Democratic councilwoman, a Republican minority leader, and a major Wall Street firm in shared opposition, not to the principle of taxing genuine absentee owners, but to the sweeping, invasive, and error-riddled way the city went about it.
Cohen's situation illustrates the problem in miniature. A man who has paid New York City property taxes for more than three decades, who is a registered voter in the city, and who lives in his condo full-time now faces the choice of handing his tax returns and Social Security number to a city government he does not trust, or being hit with a $50,000 bill he does not owe.
No one disputes that cities need revenue. But when a government publishes a million names to find eleven thousand taxpayers, demands Social Security numbers from people who already live there, and then refuses to answer questions about data security, it is not enforcing a tax. It is conducting a fishing expedition, and hoping the people caught in the net will be too tired to fight back.
