The past 100 days have been a taxing experience.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has backed new taxes during his short time in office that would squeeze a combined at least $23 billion out of even middle-class New Yorkers — despite his campaign pledge to only hike levies on the rich.
The democratic socialist campaigned on a freebie-filled agenda he contended could be funded by taxes on Big Apple millionaires and the largest corporations.
Once in office, Mamdani largely shifted his tax talk toward the need to fill a budget shortfall he initially said was $12 billion, but eventually revised down to $5.4 billion.
He even threatened an across-the-board nearly 10% property tax increase citywide if he didn’t get his “tax the rich” wish. And he accused City Council Speaker Julie Menin, a moderate Manhattan Democrat, of preferring to back cuts to city services rather than supporting his tax schemes — moves that baffled lawmakers and insiders.
“He’s a very smart leader who seems comfortable in the job, but who has made a host of rookie mistakes that resulted from inexperience — threatening an improbable property tax hike, and needlessly attacking a city council speaker he’ll need,” said Andrew Kirtzman, founding partner and CEO of KSX Communications, a public relations firm.
Here are some of the new taxes that Mamdani is pushing:
Taxing the rich, corporations.
The meat of Mamdani’s tax asks is his call to increase the city’s income tax rate by 2% for New Yorkers earning $1 billion or more.
He also wants to increase the corporate tax rate to 10.8% for financial sector firms and 10.62% for non-financial companies.
Both hikes would raise a combined $4.5 billion, according to City Hall.
But they also require action from Albany to be enacted.
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is seeking re-election in November, has made clear she opposes soaking the rich this year, in large part because she’s afraid they’ll flee the state.
But Democratic leaders in the state Assembly and Senate have bucked Hochul by throwing support behind Mamdani’s push in their symbolic budget proposals — although it remains unclear if the hikes will survive ongoing negotiations.
They’ve also strongly backed the corporate tax hike, but whether it makes the final budget is also still uncertain.
Property tax hike
Mamdani unveiled his $127 billion budget proposal with a stunning ultimatum to Hochul: tax the rich or he’ll raise property taxes by 9.5%.
The brazen demand caught even Mamdani’s supporters by surprise, not least because it broke his campaign vow to only hike taxes on the rich.
The proposal would raise an estimated $3.7 billion a year from more than 3 million residential units, owned by New Yorkers typically making about $122,000 a year, City Hall officials said.
The mayor not-so-subtly presented the hike as a choice between asking whether a relative handful of fat cats or working- and middle-class New Yorkers should shoulder the burden of closing the budget deficit.
Zohran’s little red book
The Post reveals what it thinks Mamdani’s first 100 days would look like
January 1: Dear diary, I’m the mayor! AOC owes me $20, she of little faith. She’s refusing to pay, saying I should take solace in the “warmth of collectivism.” After the block party, stopped by the new office to change the definition of antisemitism and allow people to boycott Israel. Mission accomplished.
January 6: For some reason, my girl Cea Weaver is in trouble for saying she wanted to “seize private property” and that homeownership was a “weapon of white supremacy.” Duh! That was on my campaign platform! Also I moved into Gracie Mansion.
January 7: Still cleaning up after Eric. How many glo-sticks does one mayor need? This place really needs a bidet. How can the bedroom still smell of Bill deB’s weed?
January 14: King Don called. Apparently still upset that I’m letting illegal immigrant criminals go. I said he looked handsome on TV and he calmed down a little.
January 28: People are blaming me for homeless people freezing outside. I blame the patriarchy.
January 30: Got to try out my drop, the “City of New York” jacket. Beard well oiled. Had “aura” as the kids say. Put that on a propaganda poster! Smiling this much is starting to hurt.
February 11: Tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax tax
February 12: I’ve been brainstorming some new taxes. What if we taxed millionaires for walking above 14th Street? Sidewalk congestion! Note: Bring this up at next politburo meeting.
February 17: Ugh, ‘Karen’ Hochul. I TOLD her I needed to have more taxes, and she went “uhhh.” Like c’mon that’s my brand. My X handle is @taxman. I’m seeing if anyone else from my college socialist group wants to run for governor.
February 18: Being mayor is hard.
February 26: I told Jessica that a kid throwing a snowball at cops is not a crime. Even if that kid is 27 years old with a criminal record and whacked the cop across the head.
March 1: Made a TikTok today.
March 2: Made another TikTok.
March 8: I don’t understand why folks don’t get it. When Rama is with me at official events, she’s a public figure. When she’s tweeting about how much she loves Hamas, she’s a private citizen. Easy peasy. Why can’t my press people get that across? Think we should stop calling on reporters.
March 16: Turns out the lawyers say I can’t “ban cars.” I thought I was the mayor! But someone said in meeting I can lower speed limit to make walking faster.
April 2: Reminder: Get more Crest white strips.
April 8: Turns out giving everyone free buses and puppies costs a lot of money. All my friends at the Havana convention are going to be mad.
April 9: How is my approval rating only 48%?! Everyone in Park Slope says they love me!
“I do not want to raise property taxes,” Mamdani claimed. “When faced with this crisis, the question is who should pay these taxes? I believe that it should be the wealthiest New Yorkers, the most profitable corporations. I believe that they can afford to pay a little bit more.”
The backlash came swift and Mamdani has since all-but dropped mentioning the hike.
“The way he rolled out this unpopular property tax thing, it was one of the worst communication failures. Was he for it? Against it?” said Evan Ross Smith, a pollster with Slingshot Strategies.
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“He never sold it to the council or the public, and it’s been impressive how quickly it fell apart and how it was self-inflicted around the budget and property tax increase. He failed to articulate what he wanted to do.”
Estate tax
The likely doomed property tax hike isn’t the only levy Mamdani floated that would hit the middle-class.
A wish list of tax hikes that Mamdani’s City Hall lackeys circulated in Albany showed that he wants to drastically slash the estate tax exemption threshold from the $7 million limit to just $750,000.
The proposal would also raise the top rate from 16% to 50%.
The hike would generate another $4 billion a year, officials project.
Critics pointed out that solidly middle-class New York City homes often sell well north of six figures.