Gov. Kathy Hochul’s artful dodge on the issue tells you all you need to know: She’s going to give Mayor Zohran Mamdani at least some of his tax hikes — next year, once she’s safely re-elected.
This year, she sent him some state money and OK’d some dodgy new borrowing, then pushed through his pied-à-terre tax; asked outright this week if she’ll give him more next year as a reward for his support now, she offered only a coy “There are no quid pro quos,” conspicuously saying nothing about taxes but pointedly saying she looks forward “to continue working in partnership” with the mayor on matters of mutual interest.
Until now, the gov has sworn up, down and backward to oppose increasing taxes on the rich.
“This is not an austerity budget, but it is a disciplined one,” she announced in January at the unveiling of her spending plan, boasting that she was “protecting taxpayers.”
In July she thundered, “We should not be raising taxes on high-net-worth individuals,” or “on the companies that are creating the jobs and generating the revenue that helps us pay for the services that people in New York City come to rely on.”
Not that any of that boasting stopped her from breaking her word and pushing through the pied-à-terre tax.
And now even that pantomime of prudence is out the window; she didn’t even wait until the day after the election to start backpedaling.
For readers who don’t speak Albanyese, “continue working in partnership” means Mamdani’s getting his way.
Don’t forget Hochul’s history of writing postdated checks on closed accounts.
Even before her pied-à-terre reversal, she delivered a congestion-toll bait-and-switch.
In mid-2022, just in time for her last gov election, she halted the congestion tolls, saying she wanted to give the feds and the public more time to review the program.
Then, having secured another four years, she turned the tolls back on — even claiming she was doing everyone a favor by starting them off at $9, not more.
Oh, and never mind the broken promise about the tolls reducing traffic for more than a brief period.
Similarly, Hochul this year pressed “pause” on her green agenda, giving the impression she’s won’t knuckle under to anti-progress fruitcakes.
And she won’t — until Election Day is safely past.
Most important, don’t fool yourself: A vote for Hochul is now a vote to empower Mamdani and his dream of statewide tax hikes to fund his New York City spending agenda.
You can still vote to derail that train, saving New York from the inevitable boiler explosion of high taxes and economic ruination.
Vote Blakeman, or rue the consequences.
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