The first numbers: 2,000 filed, 4,800 started
Published 2026-08-03.
Twelve days after the mailing, City Hall said how many owners had answered. The figures are worth reading carefully, because three different populations are in circulation and they are not interchangeable.
At a press conference in the Bronx on Monday, August 3, 2026, City Hall said that around 2,000 people had filed for an exemption to the surcharge and that 4,800 more had at least started the process. The same account puts the mailing at roughly 17,000 homeowners.
Which number goes with which?
- Roughly 17,000: the notices actually mailed. This is the denominator for any statement about how many owners have responded.
- Around 2,000 filed, 4,800 more started: the response so far, as of August 3. Against the mailing, that is about one owner in eight completed and about two in five who have begun.
- Nearly 1 million: the properties in the assessment-roll database the Department of Finance published, flagged as ones that may be subject to the surcharge. It is not the mailing, and it is not a list of owners who owe anything.
- 13,000 households and $500 million a year: the Governor's original estimate of the tax's reach and revenue, which is a forecast rather than a count of anything that has happened.
What else did the briefing put on the record?
- Bills carrying the surcharge are scheduled to be issued in November 2026, with payment deadlines in January 2027.
- An owner who misses the exemption deadline has until March to appeal to the Tax Commission, which is a different route with its own consequences rather than a second chance at the same one.
- The city added 24 positions across the Department of Finance and the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings to handle the rollout.