Here we go again!
Posted on 02/17/2026 8:42:41 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Mayor Zohran Mamdani laid out two potential paths Tuesday to close what he says is a $5.4 billion dollar budget gap in New York City.
In one, Albany would raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers. In the other, the City would raise property taxes for the first time since the late 2000s. The City could generate $3.7 billion by raising the property tax by 9.5%, Mamdani said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly said she is not on board the mayor's first, and more preferred, option. If Albany does not agree to taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers, Mamdani says the city would need to raise property taxes in New York City to fill the budget gap.
“If we do not go down the first path, the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. Faced with no other choice…we would have to raise property taxes. We would also have to raid our reserves,” Mamdani said at Tuesday’s briefing.
“The options of the second path are the options of last resort,” the mayor continued.
Property taxes stand as the city’s largest source of revenue, and as the only tax within the city’s power to raise.
The ultimatum from City Hall comes just one day after Hochul announced she would bail NYC out with an additional $1.5 billion.
“I’m not supportive of property tax increase, I don’t know that that’s necessary,” Hochul said at an unrelated event after word of the property tax idea leaked.
The governor has suggested that Mamdani should look at where adjustments can be made in current spending, weed out any abuses, and avoid “taxing for the sake of taxing.” On Monday, Hochul pledged another $1.5 billion to help dig out NYC’s budget hole, in addition to helping him secure new funding for child care programs.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnewyork.com ...
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I bet he also just spiked the property values in New Jersey and Connecticut.
Meanwhile last month Mamdani said NYC is facing a $12.6 billion deficit over the next two years, which he blamed on his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, whose administration he says underbudgeted for various expenses such as cash assistance, rental assistance for homeless residents, special education and overtime costs. In FY 2025, NYC took in over $33 billion in property tax revenue.Mamdani’s own rhetoric about the size and scope of the city’s budget situation has shifted. Earlier this month, just two weeks after describing the city’s $12.6 billion budget deficit as the city’s largest since the Great Recession, Mamdani revealed the hole had actually shrunk by $5 billion, because of higher tax revenue, propelled by personal income tax growth and Wall Street bonuses.
Even threatening to raise property taxes could prove a political lightning rod for Mamdani, after campaigning to reform that system, which has been criticized for overburdening lower- and middle-income residents. The last time the city increased property tax rates was under former Mayor Michael Bloomberg in the early 2000s.
This ought to get the masses fighting each other. Working men will be hot to see their tax bills when it could have been avoided had the rich been boned.
Here we go again!
... and Florida.
All so he can bloat marxist SEIU ranks, hire fat and stupid woke people, to watch each-others kids.
That is a 15.6% overall increase in property taxes. I wonder what garbage out in front and increased crime will do to property values.
I suspect if the property tax is $25,000 and the value drops 25%, the taxes the next year will be over $25,000.
“In one, Albany would raise taxes on the richest New Yorkers. In the other, the City would raise property taxes for the first time since the late 2000s. The City could generate $3.7 billion by raising the property tax by 9.5%, Mamdani said.”
Why not both? Imagine how much cheaper it will be to provide government services for the few dozen people who will still choose to live there!
And then they will mandate tripling the minimum wage.
If they have to work in NYC then Florida and Texas are too far away. I was thinking of people like stock brokers who have to show up for work every day.
Chicago should have been a cautionary tale, but New York doesn’t take the midewest seriously. Their funeral.
Sure, but at some point maybe that stock broker’s boss decides that the whole enterprise can just as well operate out of Miami... and the jobs move there too.
If only we had fair and legit elections
What is the matter with Hochul?
She is supposed to do what the hero Mamdani wants. Those taxes should go way up. Maybe he should send some tough guys to persuade her.
Dems are in control——
Since 2023, the New York State Legislature has been under Democrat control. 143 Democrats and 70 Republicans.
Both the Senate and the Assembly are held by Democrats, with the party having secured majorities in both chambers, including a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate.
Has he budgeted for the free buses, free universal childcare, and the city owned grocery stores to be run as a nonprofit?
IOW, Hochul can't raise taxes on the NYC rich without raising them on all rich people in the state, can she? I don't think she'll do that - She might raise taxes if she thinks she can get away with it, but not to give it to Mamdani.
So it'll be up to Mamdani to raise taxes - but he has no authority outside the city limits - he can't levy taxes on people who don't live in NYC, right? It'll be all right, though - he'll give them free bus tickets!
We all knew this would happen - that Zoran would destroy the city. I am surprised he's doing it this fast, though.
How about cutting spending?
Hochul and Mamdani. Two incompetents arguing over whose destructive plan would do a better job of deflecting blame and stalling reality the longest.
(Insert Michael Jackson popcorn eating gif)
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