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On Thursday, state lawmakers passed the super-late 2026 budget, before sending it to the desk of Governor Kathy Hochul to sign into law. But that didn't happen before a positively Shakespearian soliloquy on the Senate floor about the unfairness of the so-called "pied-à-terre tax," Hochul and Mayor Zohran Mamdani's headline-making addition to the state budget, which will levy a yearly tax surcharge on non-primary residences in New York City worth $5 million or more.
Welcome to the stage State Senator Jack Martins, Republican from Long Island. When the chamber discussed the portion of the Senate bill pertaining to the pied-à-terre tax, Martins had already been bloviating for several minutes about this and that tax. But it was part HH of the bill that really got him going.
Martins's performance started around an hour and five minutes into the session. "When my parents immigrated to the country, we first lived in Jamaica, Queens," Martins began, with what sure looks like the unmistakable glint of a Rolex Oyster Perpetual shining on one of his folded arms (Hell Gate has reached out to Senator Martins to confirm whether he wears a Rolex, and will update with any comment). With grandiose mannerisms and dramatic pauses that gave off a sort of "white Obama" energy, Martins recounted that his parents moved from Jamaica to Mineola on Long Island, where Martins was raised and was once mayor. So now, he lamented, just because people like his parents have a second house outside of New York City where they mostly live and also still own a Queens home that has appreciated to more than $5 million, they have to be taxed on that accrued value? "We're not asking whether or not they are still earning income," Martins said, outraged. "We're not asking whether or not they're retirees."
"It's wrong," Martins concluded.