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<v Speaker 1>Taxing about this is the seventy seven w ABC Mini cast.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, everybody in the city is panicking about their name

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<v Speaker 2>being on a list on the list that, well, it's

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<v Speaker 2>gonna quest you a lot more taxes. The Pierre a

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<v Speaker 2>tear tax with us today is the former first deputy mayor,

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<v Speaker 2>well former twice. You were the first deputy mayor under

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<v Speaker 2>Ruby Giuliani, You're the first deputy mayor under under Eric Adams,

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<v Speaker 2>Randy Mashaw. You're now the attorney to defend the system. Uh,

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<v Speaker 2>give us an update on the nine hundred and seventy

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<v Speaker 2>five thousand people they that were on that list. I

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<v Speaker 2>understand a few less people are on the crap list.

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<v Speaker 1>So John, pleasure to be with you. As always, I

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<v Speaker 1>represent role of the homeowners who showed up on that

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<v Speaker 1>original list of nine hundred and seventy five thousand New

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<v Speaker 1>Yorkers that the Mandani administration said is related to the surcharge.

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<v Speaker 1>Wasn't related to the surcharge at all. Then seventeen thousand

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<v Speaker 1>New York City homeowners got letters, noticed letters and the

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<v Speaker 1>Mandani administration that said, quote, you may be subject to

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<v Speaker 1>the new surcharge and switching the burden to them to

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<v Speaker 1>seek an exemption proving that they live in their own homes.

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<v Speaker 1>Instead of following what the state law required of the

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<v Speaker 1>city in giving the city the right to impose such

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<v Speaker 1>a second home surcharge, It said, the city has to

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<v Speaker 1>make that initial determination, and it has to review the

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<v Speaker 1>evidence and the information available to it, make that determine

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<v Speaker 1>in good faith, and then advise individuals. The city didn't

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<v Speaker 1>do that. The city switched the burden. The city took

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<v Speaker 1>the cop out way and said, I'm going to switch

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<v Speaker 1>the burden to you to prove it's actually your home,

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<v Speaker 1>and if you don't do it, if you don't apply

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<v Speaker 1>for one of these exemptions, we're going to deem you

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<v Speaker 1>subject to the tax. Now here's the problem. Seventeen thousand

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<v Speaker 1>people got that letter, and it only goes to homes

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<v Speaker 1>valued at more than five million, and co ops and

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<v Speaker 1>condos valued at more than one millions.

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<v Speaker 2>When you say the word value, is that the assessed

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<v Speaker 2>valuation that's on your normal tax bill.

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<v Speaker 1>Or if it supposed to be your market assessed value?

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<v Speaker 1>And John, there's only twenty four thousand homes total in

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<v Speaker 1>New York City that meet those thresholds. Are you telling

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<v Speaker 1>me that seventeen thousand out of those twenty four thousand,

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<v Speaker 1>that's for seventy percent our second homes. They're pieditors. They

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<v Speaker 1>are largely unutilized or underutilized because they're owned by people

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<v Speaker 1>who don't live in New York City. That is absurd,

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<v Speaker 1>But this is what the Mundani administration did to try

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<v Speaker 1>to burden New York City homeowners and impose the tax

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<v Speaker 1>on them, the surcharge, even though they're not responsible for

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<v Speaker 1>the surch charge. At the end of the day, there

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<v Speaker 1>will only be a few thousand. We had five six

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<v Speaker 1>thousand maybe homes in New York City, which is, you know,

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<v Speaker 1>a very small percentage.

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<v Speaker 2>What we'd like to do at a certain point is

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<v Speaker 2>you have to fight whatever you think you're fighting the

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<v Speaker 2>right thing to do about from our city residents. Now,

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<v Speaker 2>my official residence is New York City, my son's official

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<v Speaker 2>residence is New York City, my daughter's official residence is

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<v Speaker 2>in New York City. So I should not have a bill.

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<v Speaker 1>Right, of course, you shouldn't have a bill. You should

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<v Speaker 1>never have shown up on that list of nine hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and seventy five hours of New Yorkers. And if you've

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<v Speaker 1>got one of those notices. It's ridiculous, It's outrageous. John,

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<v Speaker 1>I got one of those notices. I'm the former first

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<v Speaker 1>deputy mayor who until December thirty one had as a

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<v Speaker 1>legal requirement that I had to live in the city.

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<v Speaker 1>But I've been living here for forty years and paying

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<v Speaker 1>taxes here for forty years too. Was it so hard

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<v Speaker 1>for the Mandani administration to check the tax records and

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<v Speaker 1>see that, well, let me ask the taxes and we

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<v Speaker 1>live here. No, but they didn't get it.

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<v Speaker 2>Randy Mestro, you know, should the state be overseeing this

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<v Speaker 2>because it made it made a lot of people angry.

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<v Speaker 2>Shouldn't the state be overseeing it?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, I think that it's incumbent. I'm the governor who

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<v Speaker 1>endorsed this at Mayor Mondanie's request, and the state legislature

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<v Speaker 1>to look into this. The city Council is looking into it.

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<v Speaker 1>Julia Manna has said she's going to do that. But

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<v Speaker 1>what the Mondana administration did here was it blatantly violated

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<v Speaker 1>the state law that authorized implementation of the statue. It

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<v Speaker 1>was very strict that state law. It was you city

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<v Speaker 1>have to make the initial determination in good faith that

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<v Speaker 1>the property meets the value thresholds and that it really

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<v Speaker 1>is a second home. And there's lots of documents available

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<v Speaker 1>to you city, including tax records. So nobody's paying New

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<v Speaker 1>York City taxes unless they live here, right, But the

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<v Speaker 1>city didn't do that, so they sent these notices to

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<v Speaker 1>people like me who everybody knows I live in this city,

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<v Speaker 1>like everybody knows you live in this city.

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<v Speaker 2>John, that's correct. I mean we both live here now,

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<v Speaker 2>So can we get somebody to oversee this from the

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<v Speaker 2>state or city to do the right thing?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, John, that's why we're going to be going to court, right,

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<v Speaker 1>We're going to be going to get a court order

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<v Speaker 1>that basically says those notices in that list they are

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<v Speaker 1>a nullody, they are invalid, they are illegal, they violate

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<v Speaker 1>the state statutory mandate.

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<v Speaker 2>And judges that the judges that are looking at it

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<v Speaker 2>are probably on that list.

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<v Speaker 1>Some of them are, John, because some of them are

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<v Speaker 1>New York City homeowners. Yes, but look, sometimes you have

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<v Speaker 1>to go to court, you have to stand up the

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<v Speaker 1>city hall, you have to fight, and I intend to

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<v Speaker 1>go to court to fight on behalf of all New

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<v Speaker 1>Yorkers who got these illegal notices, all the hundreds of

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of New Yorkers who ended up on that list

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<v Speaker 1>where they're private personal information about who they are, where

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<v Speaker 1>they live, what their property values are. Never should have

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<v Speaker 1>been published, never should have happened. And now the switching

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<v Speaker 1>the burden to thousands of New York City homeowners who

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<v Speaker 1>live here to have to prove they live in their

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<v Speaker 1>own homes, that's just totally outrageous.

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<v Speaker 2>Randy mass Show, thank you for coming on this Sunday morning,

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<v Speaker 2>and we're waking you up, I know, and let's talk

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<v Speaker 2>again real soon. Keep us informed so we can keep

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<v Speaker 2>the Zenian amount of people listening to WABC to know

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<v Speaker 2>what's really going on. Thank you so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Thank you, John. Pleasure to be with you.