Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

NYC Mayor Mamdani: Uh, Never Mind That Property Tax Hike
Hotair ^ | 03/25/2026 | John Sexton

Posted on 03/25/2026 9:27:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

Back in November, just days after Zohran Mamdani won his election to become the next mayor of New York City, I wrote about the cost of all of his proposals from free child care to free buses. The free child care plan alone was estimated to cost $6 to $9 billion per year and that's just the cost to offer it in NYC, which is less than half of the population of the state.

The problem with all of these plans is that Mamdani had no way to pay for any of this. At the core of his big spending socialist plans was a promise to tax millionaires to cover all of his new spending. But statewide tax hikes are dependent on the approval of state legislators and the governor. 

In January, Mamdani got a big win when he and Hochul publicly committed to a plan for more free child care statewide.

Ms. Hochul has proposed spending $1.7 billion on the expansion plan, which would bring the state’s total spending on child care during the next fiscal year — which begins on April 1 — to $4.5 billion. The plan will be included in Ms. Hochul’s proposed executive budget, which she will negotiate with leaders of the State Senate and Assembly in the coming months.

The funding would help the governor work toward a goal of expanding child care to all 4-year-olds statewide by the fall of 2028. It would also enable Mr. Mamdani to make New York City’s preschool program for 3-year-olds, known as 3-K, truly universal, and create a new free child care system for the city’s 2-year-olds, starting with 2,000 toddlers this fall and expanding each subsequent year...

Ms. Hochul was blunt on Thursday in saying she was unsure how the child care expansion would be funded in the future, despite her commitment to keeping it going, and whether it would require future tax increases. It can be risky for politicians to create new entitlements that voters will expect to continue without putting in place a dedicated funding source.

But creating one new unfunded mandate wasn't enough for Mamdani. He continued to push for more taxes statewide. His plan for doing this was to threaten a massive property tax hike in the city if Gov. Hochul refused to raise taxes. So in mid-February that's what he threatened to do.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday proposed to raise property tax rates in New York City by nearly 10 percent, a measure he is preparing as a “last resort” to be deployed if he cannot persuade Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise income taxes on the wealthy.

The suggested 9.5 percent increase would affect more than three million single-family homes, co-ops and condos and over 100,000 commercial buildings, Mr. Mamdani said as he delivered his preliminary spending plan.

The mayor acknowledged that his proposal would not merely force the wealthy to pay more taxes, but would also be a “tax on working- and middle-class New Yorkers,” and stressed that this was not his first choice.

But he noted that New York City mayors had little authority to raise taxes without the governor’s and Legislature’s acquiescence, and said that a city property tax increase — combined with raiding the city’s reserve funds — was the only way to address a looming budget deficit projected to reach $5.4 billion over two years.

Suddenly, all of the would-be socialists who voted this guy into office to raise taxes on other people realized the money for all of his big plans wasn't going to come from "the rich," it was gong to come from them. And just like that, they decided it was a terrible idea. The backlash was so fierce that Mamdani has now all but abandoned his threat. [emphasis added]

Numerous elected officials — from Mr. Mamdani’s left-leaning allies to centrist Democrats representing Black homeowners — said in no uncertain terms that raising property taxes was a nonstarter.

The mayor began to quietly retreat. He convened city and state lawmakers in a series of private meetings to hear their concerns and let them know he was highly unlikely to pursue the tax increase as he was pushing for more state revenue, according to interviews with nine lawmakers.

Now, five weeks after he proposed increasing property taxes by 9.5 percent, the mayor seems to have all but given up on the idea, even as Ms. Hochul shows no interest in raising income taxes on the rich — a priority for Mr. Mamdani’s democratic socialist base...

Several people involved in the city’s budget negotiations who were granted anonymity said City Hall officials were taken aback by the level of opposition to the proposal. One of Mr. Mamdani’s former colleagues in the State Legislature told the mayor that if he went through with the property tax proposal, he would be a one-term mayor.

I have no idea how these private meetings with lawmakers played out but I imagine it went something like this.

Dem Lawmaker: No one can afford a 10% property tax hike! Are you insane?!

Mamdani: We're committed to free child care and the governor refuses to raise taxes on the rich.

Dem Lawmaker: My constituents voted for you because you promised the leopard would east someone else's face. They are dead set against a plan in which the leopard eats their faces.

So the property tax hike is not going to happen and the state won't have the money to pay for this new child care entitlement unless it raises taxes. There's no doubt someone is going to pay and the would-be socialists in NYC don't seem to care who pays so long as it's not them.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: New York
KEYWORDS: mamdani; nyc; propertytax; taxes

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

1 posted on 03/25/2026 9:27:41 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It’s simple, to provide for the ‘free buses’ Mandami will charge a ‘bus use tax’ to pay for the ‘free buses’...

right? perfectly circular.


2 posted on 03/25/2026 9:34:35 PM PDT by Pikachu_Dad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pikachu_Dad

RE: Mandami will charge a ‘bus use tax’ to pay for the ‘free buses’...

And a “train use tax” to pay for riding the train for free,.

And a “Housing use tax” to pay for putting a roof over your head for free.

And a “grocery tax” to pay for free government groceries...

Just call everything we already pay for a tax ...


3 posted on 03/25/2026 9:47:37 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

idealism meets reality, but that boy’s idealism ain’t dead and in time will prove euphemistically deadly imo.


4 posted on 03/25/2026 10:10:38 PM PDT by Ahithophel (Communication is an art form susceptible to sudden technical failure)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Lol


5 posted on 03/26/2026 12:18:12 AM PDT by Freeleesy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Lols and f Mandami..... he became a US citizen 8 years ago. Meaning clown could not vote in elections until recently.


6 posted on 03/26/2026 12:33:10 AM PDT by dennisw (Qatarlson the Insufferable blowhard = There is no limit to human stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Suddenly, all of the would-be socialists who voted this guy into office to raise taxes on other people realized the money for all of his big plans wasn’t going to come from “the rich,” it was gong to come from them. And just like that, they decided it was a terrible idea. The backlash was so fierce that Mamdani has now all but abandoned his threat. [emphasis added]

Numerous elected officials — from Mr. Mamdani’s left-leaning allies to centrist Democrats representing Black homeowners — said in no uncertain terms that raising property taxes was a nonstarter.

The mayor began to quietly retreat. He convened city and state lawmakers in a series of private meetings to hear their concerns and let them know he was highly unlikely to pursue the tax increase as he was pushing for more state revenue, according to interviews with nine lawmakers.

Now, five weeks after he proposed increasing property taxes by 9.5 percent, the mayor seems to have all but given up on the idea, even as Ms. Hochul shows no interest in raising income taxes on the rich — a priority for Mr. Mamdani’s democratic socialist base...

Several people involved in the city’s budget negotiations who were granted anonymity said City Hall officials were taken aback by the level of opposition to the proposal. One of Mr. Mamdani’s former colleagues in the State Legislature told the mayor that if he went through with the property tax proposal, he would be a one-term mayor.

I have no idea how these private meetings with lawmakers played out but I imagine it went something like this.


7 posted on 03/26/2026 12:34:17 AM PDT by dennisw (Qatarlson the Insufferable blowhard = There is no limit to human stupidity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

There.

Is.

NO.

FREE.

LUNCH.

—- Duh.


8 posted on 03/26/2026 12:45:35 AM PDT by _longranger81
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

What they are counting on is having someone like Joe Biden come along in 2029 at the side of NYC’s Speaker Jeffries and Leader Schumer put the assets/income of those who fled the Blue States (along with the rest of America) pay for the idiocies of NYC politicians.


9 posted on 03/26/2026 1:35:10 AM PDT by Degaston
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

The stupidity of the left is mind boggling.


10 posted on 03/26/2026 3:08:27 AM PDT by maddog55 (The only thing systemic in America is the left's hatred of it!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Well, at least he’s sticking to his guns that jail is no place for violent criminals.


11 posted on 03/26/2026 4:01:56 AM PDT by chuckee
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
Ma'amdami's terrorist symp wife looks like a camel. Camel face is now a thing.


12 posted on 03/26/2026 4:18:53 AM PDT by DeplorablePaul
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ahithophel

It isn’t “idealism” that motivates these monsters.


13 posted on 03/26/2026 4:30:40 AM PDT by TimSkalaBim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: TimSkalaBim

“Free child care” is a feminist ploy that simply directs money to women on the basis that they are women. Woman A gets paid to take care of the child of Woman B while Woman B gets paid to take care of the child of Woman A. Instead of taking care of their children for free, they each make 60k for doing the same thing they used to do for nothing.


14 posted on 03/26/2026 4:46:19 AM PDT by brookwood (First the left said it was OK to steal. Next they said it was OK to kill.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: brookwood

And both women probably do half as good a job raising the other’s child.


15 posted on 03/26/2026 5:04:35 AM PDT by TimSkalaBim
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Easy peasy
I should be the Mayor of NYC!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZ-Etb0k0Q

Go git the 0bama money from the 0bama stash to balance the budget.

Next issue.....


16 posted on 03/26/2026 5:08:12 AM PDT by Steven Tyler
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“RE: Mandami will charge a ‘bus use tax’ to pay for the ‘free buses’...”

Call it “a Seat License” that’s what the NFL does.


17 posted on 03/26/2026 5:50:35 AM PDT by Tallguy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: DeplorablePaul

She needs to try using shampoo (if she bathes).


18 posted on 03/26/2026 6:27:47 AM PDT by Resolute Conservative
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

ALL 4 KIDS IN FAMILY NEVER SENT TO PRE-=SCHOOL OR KINDERGARTEN.

WE ALL BECAME SELF-EMPLOYED.

I NEVER HIRED ANY EMPLOYEES BUT

ONE BROTHER HAD OVER 63 EMPLOYEES

THE OTHER -—FEWER-—BUT STILL RAN THEIR OWN BUSINESSES.

SEEMS USELESS TO ME TO PLOW THAT KIND OF $$$$$ INTO VERY YOUNG KIDS-—EXCEPT THAT IT IS TO AID INDOCTRINATION


19 posted on 03/26/2026 7:12:17 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: DeplorablePaul

HOW COME SHE IS NOT IN A BURKA????????????????


20 posted on 03/26/2026 7:13:48 AM PDT by ridesthemiles (not giving up on TRUMP---EVER)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson