(2) What are you telling your clients about the proposed tax? I’m sure people are asking you about it.
This is why I think a pied-a-terre tax would be bad for New York City:
1. The super rich like to prevent paying taxes, many will stop buying in an already extremely depressed market, since they are basing this revenue on closed sales that went into contract years ago when the market was much better.
2. The lost tax revenue on jobs lost from construction, building workers, tourism, restaurants shopping, etc. will far exceed any revenue raised by the pied-a-terre tax.
3. More importantly, this new tax would send an anti-business/anti-wealth message to the world. New York would most likely lose its “Capital of the World Status”. If they want to see what would happen, look no further than London. But this is worse than Brexit.
Why it may not matter: If New York limits it to pied-a-terres at $5,000,000 and above, they are really only targeting the super rich. If they want to play in New York City, they have to pay.