Wynn and Ross sue New York over $183,000 second-home tax bill

Steve Wynn and Wilbur Ross, the former U.S. commerce secretary, have sued New York State to block the new pied-a-terre tax. Ross’s wife, Hilary Geary Ross, is also a plaintiff. The case is Ross v State of New York, index no. 628629/2026, in Suffolk County Supreme Court. The plaintiffs say the tax violates the U.S. and New York constitutions by targeting nonresidents who cannot vote against the lawmakers who backed it.

Why it matters

For brokers who sell second homes and co-ops, the tax is now being tested in two courts at once. A Staten Island judge, Wayne Ozzi, separately ordered the city to cancel its notices after homeowners argued the rollout put the burden on owners to prove they were exempt. That case challenged the process, not the tax itself.

A separate suit by a group of homeowners and a co-op, reported by Courthouse News Service, goes further and attacks the law’s constitutionality.

The numbers

Ross said in the complaint that a July notice put a surcharge of more than $83,000 on his Manhattan property. Wynn said his New York City notice carried a surcharge of more than $183,000, per Bloomberg Law.

Reports describe the tax as a surcharge on non-primary homes valued above $5 million and on co-ops valued at $1 million or more. We did not verify those thresholds against the statute text, so treat them as reported. Price per square foot cannot be computed here, because no filing we reviewed gives the size or assessed value of either property.

What’s next

The city must now redo its rollout, and reporting differs on how notices will be reissued. Whether the Suffolk case reaches a ruling on the merits is pending; no hearing date has been reported. Until then, buyers of second homes above the reported thresholds should price the surcharge as a live risk, not a settled cost. For related coverage, see our New York desk and the Elaine Wynn Fifth Avenue condo relist, a different Wynn and a separate luxury condo sale.