Toby Howell

Mamdani singled out Ken Griffin, the billionaire hedge fund owner of Citadel, whose primary residence is Miami, but also owns a $240 million penthouse in Manhattan.

Neil, this policy is still just a proposal for now and has not yet been approved by the state legislature, but it's got its foot in the door and on the ground.

And this time, it does seem like the real estate industry is a little bit left out to dry.

The rest of the broader business community isn't rallying around the real estate industry because they're essentially just happy that the attention is directed away from them and directed on a specific industry like real estate.

The real estate industry's argument against this, though, is the same ones that they've used in the past.

like you mentioned in 2014 and 2019.

They think that it's going to artificially warp the market.

All you're going to do is see a lot of units come online that are priced just below $5 million, trying to undercut that new effort, that new tax.

They also say it's just going to dampen

demand in general from wealthy buyers.

Why would you buy in New York City when you can go buy in Florida that doesn't have these taxes?

And if that weakened demand comes to pass, then builders might start pulling back on construction a little bit.

Maybe that reduces the housing supply, leading to a shortage, and it has almost the reverse effect of what you intended.

So those are some of the reasons why maybe people aren't a fan of the PETA tear tax.

Yeah, I think the word that stood out to me in your intro, Neil, was opaque, not just when it comes to admissions transparency, but also when it comes to the affordability piece.

No one even knows how much they're paying to go to college these days, because even though the sticker prices ticked up above, you know,

$100,000 annually at some places.

Obviously, that comes with a lot of caveats.

Usually, you're not getting charged full tuition.

You're getting some sort of financial aid.