MARK PENN: Socialist Mamdani sold a tax on billionaires. Regular homeowners could pay the price.

Because the Department of Finance’s initial roll sent notices to 960,000 property entries, primary residents are now forced to navigate bureaucratic hurdles to prove their exemption. The statute had a little-noticed provision that co-ops and condos qualify for the tax if the NYC Department of Finance computers identify their assessed value over $1 million. Presto chango — hundreds of thousands of New York homeowners were caught up in the initial mailing. And the surcharge on non-primary residences can reach up to 5% or more of market value annually.

So now add $50,000 a year in costs to a million-dollar non-primary condo. What are those owners going to do? Hit the sell, sell, sell button. Imposing steep surcharges on secondary condo owners could chill the broader housing market, reduce demand from out-of-town buyers and ultimately drag down property values across the board. In the end, local homeowners will pay the price through diminished equity. It’s simple economics.

The ’90s Clintonistas like Penn and James Carville are more or less in a panic about the commie takeover of the party they helped drag toward the DLC center.

But that was a long time ago, and Obama’s Red Diaper Brigades are taking over.