Dave Portnoy slams blue state’s proposed fees on luxury homeowners: ‘Taylor Swift tax’

Barstool Sports founder and outspoken “Swiftie” Dave Portnoy is fuming over what’s being coined as the “Taylor Swift tax.”

The proposed Rhode Island law would target owners of luxury second homes valued at over $1 million, imposing annual fees that could soar into the six-figures.

“We don’t like that tax, Stuart,” Portnoy said during an interview on “Varney & Co.” “Now I don’t have any houses in Rhode Island, but I got some pretty close to Rhode Island. So, I don’t like those states getting the ideas.”

In 2013, Swift dropped roughly $17 million on a mansion in the exclusive Watch Hill area of Westerly, Rhode Island. 

Because of the property’s sky-high value, she could be hit with an additional $136,000 in yearly taxes if the law passes.

Swift owns seven homes across the U.S., including properties in New York City, Beverly Hills, Nashville, and Rhode Island.

As a second-home owner in Nantucket, Massachusetts, Portnoy voiced concern over Rhode Island’s proposed tax, jokingly hoping the New England state doesn’t get any ideas from it.

“Now, I will say, if they name the tax in Massachusetts ‘the Dave Portnoy tax,’ my ego may let that slide,” he jested. 

“That may be something where it’s like, I’ll pay a couple of hundred grand to have… ‘Oh, Dave has such big houses they named a tax after him.’”

Portnoy owns properties in Miami, Saratoga Springs, Montauk, and Nantucket. His waterfront Nantucket estate was purchased for $42 million in 2023 — a record-breaking sale for both the island and the state.

For now, the businessman is content with his four homes.

“I’m not looking anywhere. I use my houses quite a bit,” Portnoy concluded.