Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday proposed to raise property tax rates in New York City by nearly 10 percent, a measure he is casting 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 property tax increase would affect more than 3 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 budget plan, Mr. Mamdani’s first since becoming mayor, totals $127 billion and would take effect July 1, following revisions and negotiations with the City Council. That is an increase from the current $122 billion spending plan.
Mr. Mamdani, the city’s newly elected democratic socialist mayor, said a tax increase is necessary to close a $5.4 billion fiscal gap that he has blamed on inaccurate budgeting from his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. (Mr. Adams has said he left Mr. Mamdani with over $8 billion in reserves.)
City budgets must, by law, be balanced.
Should Mr. Mamdani carry through on his threat to increase property taxes, the measure would raise an additional $14.8 billion over four years, according to budget documents. Property taxes are the only taxes mayors can control without approval from Albany, though the City Council would have to approve the increase.
But the mayor made it clear that he would rather persuade Ms. Hochul, who is up for re-election this year, to increase income taxes on the city’s highest earners. He has repeatedly called for a wealth tax, but recently signaled he would most likely skip a rally planned for Feb. 25 at the State Capitol in Albany to deepen that call.
Earlier this week, Mr. Mamdani received a major show of support from the governor, who announced an additional $1.5 billion infusion of state funds into the city budget. Several hundred million of that funding came from shifting the cost of programs for public health and youth services from the city to the state.
The announcement comes as the mayor and governor attempt to deliver an ambitious state-funded expansion of the child care system, beginning in New York City. They have formed an unlikely partnership that Ms. Hochul, a centrist, hopes will help to endear her to New York City’s progressives.
On Tuesday, Ms. Hochul reiterated her commitment to New York City’s fiscal well-being, but said she would oppose raising property taxes. Ms. Hochul has also repeatedly rejected the idea of raising income taxes, saying such an increase would unnecessarily burden working New Yorkers.
She played down the likelihood of the property tax increase, suggesting that cost-cutting measures and updated accounting might make such an move unnecessary. Mr. Mamdani was just doing his job, she said, noting that the mayor was “required to put options on the table; that does not mean that’s the final resolution.”
Julie Menin, a Democrat who is speaker of the City Council, said in a statement that she opposed the property tax proposal. “At a time when New Yorkers are already grappling with an affordability crisis, dipping into rainy day reserves and proposing significant property tax increases should not be on the table whatsoever,” she said. “The Council believes there are additional areas of savings and revenue that deserve careful scrutiny before increasing the burden on small property owners and neighborhood small businesses.”
And while Ms. Hochul’s support for Mr. Mamdani may help her with voters in New York City, there were signs her largess might have unintended consequences elsewhere.
Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive who last week clinched the Republican nomination for governor, criticized the investment as yet another example of Democrats in general — and Ms. Hochul in particular — prioritizing New York City ahead of the rest of the state.
“Kathy Hochul is happily handing billions to New York City while suburban and upstate taxpayers struggle to pay their bills,” he said in a statement, arguing that any surplus money from the state should be directed toward tax relief. “Why should someone on Long Island, the Hudson Valley, or western New York be asked to pay for policies and programs that don’t benefit their communities?”
Sally Goldenberg is a Times reporter covering New York City politics and government.
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