New York’s $268 Billion Budget Deal Includes New Second-Home Tax

ALBANY N.Y. — New York state leaders have reached a handshake agreement on a $268 billion budget that will include funding to expand child care and a new tax on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday.

The spending plan, which comes more than five weeks after the April 1 deadline, will also include a raft of measures intended to push back against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, including banning Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from wearing masks.

Other major policy initiatives shoehorned into the budget include a weakening of the state’s climate goals and a cap on auto insurance payouts.

But the most significant change to fiscal policy will be the new tax surcharge on multimillion-dollar second homes in New York City — a move that the governor supported despite her frequently stated aversion to raising taxes.

The tax on so-called pieds-à-terre comes as Democrats across the country are increasingly looking to increase taxes on the wealthy as a means of addressing the affordability concerns that remain top of mind for many voters before the midterm elections.

Hochul still has not released details of how many second homes will be subject to the new tax or what the new rates will be. The goal is to raise $500 million each year, which will go toward closing the city’s estimated $5.4 billion budget deficit.

Despite agreements on several of Hochul’s policy priorities, there were still many details of the state’s spending plan that she will need to resolve before the Senate and Assembly can begin voting on the nine separate bills that make up the budget.

The immigration bill also forbids local law enforcement officials from entering formal cooperation agreements with ICE and prohibits agents from searching New Yorkers’ homes, hospitals, churches and schools without a warrant signed by a judge.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Grace Ashford and Benjamin Oreskes/Cindy Schultz
c. 2026 The New York Times Company

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