Hochul tries to distance herself from Mamdani’s bungled rollout of her pied-à-terre tax — and it could haunt her: insiders

The pied-à-turmoil is just getting started.

Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to distance herself from Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s bungled pied-à-terre rollout, but the new tax could cause her headaches for years to come, insiders said Tuesday.

A Staten Island judge’s stunning decision Monday to order a pause on Mamdani’s rollout put a spotlight on an issue causing tensions between Hochul’s camp and City Hall since the tax on luxury second homes arose in state budget talks this spring.

The tax’s troubles are the last thing Hochul, a Democrat, wants as she seeks re-election this fall against Republican challenger Bruce Blakeman, said a business community source involved in the negotiations.

“She can’t be running on ‘tax and spend Kathy,'” the industry source said.

The democratic socialist Mamdani’s calls to “tax the rich” during last year’s mayoral campaign pushed Hochul into what she called the role of “therapist-in-chief” for the city’s uneasy well-to-do.

A blustery Hochul — before she even hitched her political wagon to Mamdani by endorsing him — declared: “I’ve spoken to hundreds of business leaders saying, ‘Listen, nothing is going to happen to this city without me being aware of it and involved in it.’”

But the supposed hands-on governor changed her tune as problems mounted with the pied-à-terre plan — a levy she and state lawmakers approved in May, fulfilling Mamdani and his fellow Democratic Socialists of America members’ calls for her to “tax the rich.”

Hochul this week first flatly said the state wasn’t responsible for the actual rollout of the new tax, then her spokeswoman Jennifer Goodman further distanced the governor from it following the judge’s ruling.

“While this lawsuit about the administration of the tax is a matter for the city and the courts to work through, the governor continues to believe that people who can afford a multimillion-dollar second home in New York City can afford to pay their fair share,” Goodman said Monday.

Hochul’s critics wouldn’t let her skate, with Blakeman leading the charge.

“It’s typical Kathy Hochul to blame everybody else for her failures,” he said during a campaign event in Queens Tuesday.

“She’s doing everything that Zohran Mamdani wants you to do, ’cause he’s running the party now.”

Lawyers from Mamdani’s administration on Tuesday formally appealed the pause ordered by Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Wayne Ozzi, arguing doing so would allow the city to continue the tax’s implementation, as a lawsuit fighting it continues.

Attorney Randy Mastro, a veteran of ex-Mayor Eric Adams’ administration who’s representing homeowners in the suit, filed Friday, quickly fired off a furious letter to a judge. He argued the city was ignoring the court order pausing the rollout.

“That is lawless,” he wrote.

The rocky rollout could very well be an appetizer for a feast of sorrows to come.

Even if Mamdani irons out the kinks soon, the pied-à-terre law envisions Big Apple officials overhauling the city’s convoluted property tax system – a colossal undertaking that no mayor has seriously tried to tackle.

Other Republicans piggybacked on Blakeman’s assertion that Hochul caves to Mamdani.

“Mamdani wanted another tax, Hochul gave it to him, and now New York homeowners are stuck dealing with the consequences while they point fingers at each other,” said GOP state comptroller candidate Joseph Hernandez.

“It’s not surprising that the governor pushed through this bill on behalf of the socialists and is now hiding from it,” said Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-Staten Island).

“If she’s re-elected, she will cave to the socialists no matter the consequences for New Yorkers,” Tannousis said.

“First of all, it’s not just the rollout. That was horrible,” he said. “But the fact is, we shouldn’t have a pied-à-terre tax.”

— Additional reporting by Peter Senzamici