Bill de Blasio has made New Yorkâs âTale of Two Citiesâ a centerpiece of his Democratic campaign for mayor. âOne New Yorker is rushing past an attended desk in the lobby of a majestic skyscraper,â Mr. de Blasio said in a speech at the New School earlier this year, while âa few miles away, a single mother is also rushing, holding her two young children by the hands as they hurry down the steps of the subway entrance.â  Places like One57, the skyscraper pictured above, 15 Central Park West and Plaza Hotel cater to the ultrawealthy who have a primary residence elsewhere.  But Mr. de Blasioâs point was only partly correct. Relatively few wealthy owners of ultraluxury apartments are rushing through their buildingsâ lobbies, because theyâre rarely, if ever, there.  To address the inequities of the two cities, Mr. de Blasio has proposed raising taxes on the wealthy, whom he defines as those making more than $500,000, to pay for prekindergarten and after-school care. This may be a laudable goal, but people making $500,000 who are actually living and working in the city already pay high federal, state and local income taxes as well as property taxes. Theyâre not the ones buying apartments in places like One57, where two penthouses have sold for more than $90 million each. Places like One57, 15 Central Park West and Plaza Hotel are another New York entirely, one for the ultrawealthy with a primary residence elsewhere, for whom a $55 million condo is a pied-Ã -terre and just another place to park their wealth. Mr. de Blasioâs proposal would have little, if any, effect on them. They pay no city income tax and comparatively low property taxes even as the cityâs services prop up the value of their trophy real estate.  Tax law in New York City is determined by New York State, not the city, so the mayor has only the power of persuasion. But the mayor can be a strong advocate. A tacit goal of the Bloomberg administration seems to have been to woo the worldâs superrich with generous tax treatment, in what seems to be a continuing global competition with London, Hong Kong and Singapore. Thatâs not all that surprising, considering that Mr. Bloomberg is a billionaire himself, with a primary residence in New York City, a $20 million apartment on Londonâs Cadogan Square and a getaway in Bermuda. Attracting the superrich may well bolster some tax revenue and confer benefits on the city and its more ordinary residents, but the question remains, can and should they be asked to pay more?  âIt certainly might be more palatable for a new mayor, subject to the approval of the Legislature, to inflict pain on those whose resident status is purely a fiction of the law, rather than on real residents, meaning those who are domiciled in New York and vote there as well,â said Robert Willens, the president of a tax and accounting service in New York City and adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. âI can see this sort of a change as one that a new mayor would seriously consider.â  Ultrawealthy nonresidents who own property in New York City certainly make a ripe target for potential revenue. People who spend fewer than half the year in New York City donât pay any city income tax, even if they generate much of their fortune in the city. Many have elaborate systems for keeping track of their whereabouts. Since even one minute in a 24-hour period may count as a day for residency purposes, thereâs often a frantic, Cinderella-like dash to cross the city line before midnight, although itâs black limousines ferrying the passengers rather than horse-drawn carriages.  In one multiyear case, the hedge fund manager Julian Robertson avoided paying $26.7 million in New York City income tax after a judge ruled that he had proved he was outside the city for 183 days in 2000, the year challenged by the stateâs division of finance. Mr. Robertsonâs primary residence was in Locust Valley, on Long Island, but he owned an apartment on Central Park South, and his office was on Park Avenue. He also owned places in Australia, New Zealand and Sun Valley, Idaho, and he rented a place each summer in Southampton.  Nonresidents who spend at least 183 days outside New York City and state â who live, for example, in Alpine, N.J., or Greenwich, Conn. â pay no New York City income tax. And foreign residents who spend at least 183 days outside the country, pay no United States income taxes.
The mayoral candidate Bill de Blasioâs proposal to raise taxes on the cityâs wealthy wonât touch many of the wealthiest.