The surcharge is aimed at people who own a property in the city but declare their primary residence outside the Big Apple. Still, the publication prompted immediate privacy concerns and a scramble among owners to establish that their properties qualify as primary residences. A spokesperson for Zwirner confirmed that he is a New York City resident and that the property is his primary address. “I promised that we would tax the rich, and with our new pied-à-terre tax, that is exactly what we have done,” he said. Real estate attorney Benjamin Williams of Rosenberg and Estis, who specialises in New York property tax assessments, offered some perspective on the sense of alarm the publication appeared to cause.