Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a record $127 billion budget Tuesday with an ultimatum to Albany to tax the rich or he’ll slap the Big Apple with a massive property tax hike.
The democratic socialist framed his proposal — which would also include pulling from the city’s $10 billion rainy day fund — as a “last resort” to balance the budget if Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t agree to increase taxes on millionaires.
“I do not want to raise property taxes,” Mamdani said of his preliminary budget plan, which would hike property taxes 9.5% to raise an additional $3.7 billion in the next fiscal year.
The democratic socialist framed his proposal — which would also include pulling from the city’s $10 billion rainy day fund — as a “last resort” to balance the budget if Gov. Kathy Hochul doesn’t agree to increase taxes on millionaires.
Hochul, who is facing reelection this year and stands in the way of Mamdani’s “tax the rich” effort, also said she wouldn’t have his back on a property tax hike, though he wouldn’t need Albany’s approval for such an increase.
“I’m not supportive of a property tax increase, I don’t know that that’s necessary,” Hochul told reporters Tuesday during an unrelated event.
Other City Hall officials were quick to dismiss Mamdani’s plan.
“This is insanity,” one insider told The Post. “Property taxes haven’t been raised since 9/11.”
Mamdani’s pitch would bring the budget up around $11 billion from the current year, with new funding for additional lawyers and homeless services, among others.
