![\"Zohran](\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133155896,imgsize-71246,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg\" "\\"Representative")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\nNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>‘s proposed ‘millionaire home tax’ is drawing attention beyond second-home ownership. By requiring owners of high-value secondary residences to establish whether a property is their primary home, the proposal also highlights a long-running issue of residency claims that overlaps with “garage fraud”. This is a practice in which residents register vehicles in lower-cost states while primarily living and driving in New York.\u200bThe proposal has renewed scrutiny over so-called “ghost cars” and improperly registered out-of-state vehicles. City data, investigative reports, and enforcement agencies have for years documented vehicles repeatedly appearing on New York streets with out-of-state registrations, mismatched plates, or fraudulent registrations, raising questions about unpaid fines, insurance evasion, and tax compliance.\u200b<\/p>\n \u200bMamdani’s proposed pied-\u00e0-terre surcharge would apply to qualifying second homes in New York City. To determine whether a property qualifies as a primary residence, homeowners may need to provide documents such as state tax filings or driver’s licence records.\u200bThat same residency information could reveal discrepancies in which someone claims residency outside New York while actually living in the city and keeping a vehicle there. New York insurers calculate premiums based on where a vehicle is primarily garaged, making false out-of-state registrations, which is commonly known as garage fraud, a recognised form of insurance fraud.\u200bAccording to a Streetsblog analysis of New York City violation data, 20,992 vehicles registered outside New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania received at least one traffic or parking violation in every quarter of the year, a pattern suggesting many may be driven in New York year-round despite being registered elsewhere.\u200b<\/p>\n \u200bIn 2025, the New York City Council\u2019s Oversight and Investigations Division conducted a survey of more than 3,500 parked vehicles across all five boroughs. Of the 768 non-New York-plated vehicles, almost one in five had licence plates that did not match the vehicle or could not be traced to a valid registration. The report also revealed:\u200bVehicles with mismatched or “no-hit” plates owed nearly 2.5 times more in outstanding fines than properly registered out-of-state vehicles.Those vehicles paid only 16% of their fines, compared with 63% for vehicles with valid registrations.They also recorded 49% more school-zone speeding camera violations and 74% more fire hydrant violations, on average, than vehicles with matched plates.\u200bInvestigators further reported that replica licence plates, expired government-issued plates and out-of-state registration services were openly marketed online, making fraudulent registrations easier to obtain.\u200b<\/p>\n \u200bNew York has increased enforcement in recent years. Governor Kathy Hochul has made ghost plates and registration fraud part of statewide enforcement efforts, while agencies including the State Police, DMV and Thruway Authority have carried out coordinated operations targeting improperly registered vehicles.\u200bSimilar practices have also been identified elsewhere in the US. California prosecutors have pursued cases involving the “Montana LLC” registration loophole used to avoid vehicle taxes, while Philadelphia has launched dedicated enforcement against ghost cars and fraudulent licence plates.\u200b<\/p>\n \u200bThe practice is not unique to the United States. In Italy, authorities have targeted a scheme centred around Naples in which drivers deregister vehicles domestically, re-register them through long-term rental arrangements in Poland and then continue driving them in Italy using Polish licence plates to reduce insurance costs.\u200bIn 2022, Italian authorities prohibited residents from driving foreign-plated vehicles not registered domestically, but thousands of Polish-plated vehicles remain concentrated around Naples.\u200bFrance has faced a different version of the problem. The country’s state auditor, the Cour des Comptes, estimated that roughly one million illegally registered vehicles are operating on French roads through fraudulent “ghost dealerships” that manipulate the national vehicle registry. The report linked the registrations to unpaid fees, tax avoidance, stolen vehicles and organised crime networks.\u200bWhile the methods differ, the common feature across New York, Italy and France is the use of registration loopholes or false residency claims to reduce insurance costs, avoid taxes or evade enforcement.<\/div>\n New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s proposed ‘millionaire home tax’ is drawing attention beyond second-home ownership. By requiring owners of high-value secondary residences to establish whether a property is their primary home, the proposal also highlights a long-running issue of residency claims that overlaps with “garage fraud”. This is a practice in which residents register […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s proposed ‘millionaire home tax’ is drawing attention beyond second-home ownership. By requiring owners of high-value secondary residences to establish whether a property is their primary home, the proposal also highlights a long-running issue of residency claims that overlaps with “garage fraud”. This is a practice in which residents register […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":4,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/zohran-mamdanis-millionaire-home-tax-exposes-new-yorks-ghost-cars-issue.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}How New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed tax deals with vehicle registration<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
What investigators found<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
New York is not alone<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
Italy and France face similar registration schemes<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"