Mamdani proposes raising NYC property taxes if state doesn't approve tax hike on wealthy
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is calling for the Empire State to hike taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals in order to address the Big Apple's budget deficit, warning that the alternative would involve the city increasing property taxes and dipping into its reserves.
Mamdani has issued a preliminary fiscal year 2027 budget that involves a property tax hike, a prospect he has described as a "last resort."
"Today, I’m releasing the City’s preliminary budget. After years of fiscal mismanagement, we’re staring at a $5.4 billion budget gap — and two paths. One: Albany can raise taxes on the ultra-wealthy and the most profitable corporations and address the fiscal imbalance between our city and state. The other, a last resort: balance the budget on the backs of working people using the only tools at the City's disposal," Mamdani noted in a Tuesday post on X.
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The city council needs to green-light city budgets, according to the New York Times.
"As the mayor of New York City, I have a legal obligation to balance the budget. I will meet that obligation," he said during remarks on Tuesday.
"Faced with no other choice, the city would have to exercise the only revenue lever fully within our own control. We would have to raise property taxes. We would also be forced to raid our reserves," he said.
"This would effectively be a tax on working and middle class New Yorkers, who have a median income of $122,000," said Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist who ran on a platform that promised to tackle rent costs.
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Mamdani said the "preliminary budget takes the only path within our control," but added that the city will only go that route if there is no other way to achieve a balanced budget.