Did Mamdani “doxx” wealthy New Yorkers?

“PIED-A-TERROR,” the New York Post cover blared on July 28. The paper claimed New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani put “people in danger by posting a ‘rich to be taxed’ list publicly.”

In an article published online on July 27, the Post claimed that the Mamdani administration “published a searchable database of Big Apple properties that could fall under the state’s new pied-à-terre tax, effectively doxxing thousands of wealthy New Yorkers.” The Post quoted people calling it a “reckless and foolish move,” “a mistake,” and “a dangerous precedent.”

An article published the same day by the New York Post Editorial Board called the database an “enemies list” and “a kind of one-stop class-warfare shopping list for antifa radicals looking for targets.” The article claims that the list was released to “scar[e]” people and that the Mamdani administration “want[s] everyone owning private property to fear their wrath.”

But Mamdani did not “doxx” any New York City residents. The same information has been public — and searchable online — for decades.

This is not unique to New York City. Property records, including tax information, are publicly available across the country because these records make private ownership of real property possible. Without a public record, there would be no way to resolve competing claims over the same property or ensure that property is transferred unencumbered.

The city was required to publish an updated property ownership list in July as it implements the pied-à-terre tax. The tax will create an annual surcharge on some properties that are not used as a primary residence, also known as “pieds-à-terre.” The tax will apply to condos and co-op units valued at over $1 million and homes valued over $5 million. An April analysis by New York City Comptroller Mark Levine found that the tax could raise between $340 million and $510 million in revenue annually.

But there is little in the new list that wasn’t already freely available. The city has a searchable database called the Automated City Register Information System (ACRIS) that allows users to quickly and easily search through property records by name and address.

While around 960,000 properties were included in the supplemental roll, the actual list of properties that will be subject to the pied-à-terre tax is much smaller. Last month, the city mailed letters to around 17,000 property owners that may be subject to the new tax. Around a third of the letter receivers have already applied for exemptions, the New York Times reported earlier this month.

New York officials have contested the claim that residents were doxxed by the database. “We publish property tax rolls in accordance with the law, as the city has done twice a year for years, frankly, if not decades and centuries,” Mamdani said during a press conference. New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) said that there was “[n]othing unusual here,” adding, “Every building, property tax debt is public. Always has been.”

Several residents included in the data set are now suing the Mamdani administration, arguing that city officials “acted too hastily and sowed confusion.” The lawsuit seeks to take down the supplemental tax roll, among other things, but does not challenge the actual tax. A judge temporarily paused the rollout earlier this month, but an appeals court threw out the order.

Nevertheless, the false “doxxing” claim has been repeated incessantly by the New York Post, and has now spread to other media outlets.

An avalanche of false accusations

Since its initial article from July 27, the New York Post has published around 30 articles on the pied-à-terre tax. Many of them have repeated the doxxing claim and implied that the Mamdani administration is purposely endangering residents who might disagree with the mayor’s agenda.