It’s not enough for Mam.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani brushed off Gov. Kathy Hochul’s state budget proposal that came with a pledge not to hike income taxes — saying Wednesday he’s going to push for an increase anyway.
It’s the latest move by Mamdani to pull Hochul to the left to align with him and his liberal supporters’ goal of soaking wealthy New Yorkers to raise billions to pay for a freebie-filled agenda that includes free bus fares.
“Our administration is preparing to make the case that it is the time for New York’s most profitable corporations and wealthiest residents to pay their fair share,” Mamdani told reporters at an unrelated press conference at the Whitney Museum in Manhattan.
The comments came just one day after Hochul unveiled a mammoth $260 billion budget for the Empire State as the Democrat governor faces pressure both from the left and right in an election year. She unveiled a universal pre-k plan in her budget alongside the push from Mamdani and supporters.
But that wasn’t enough for the mayor, who said the state makes up 54.5% of the state’s tax revenue but only received 40.5% back — and he’ll need Albany to OK any hikes for the Big Apple.
“What we are looking to do is to tackle long standing fiscal issues that both have to do with the need for more revenue from the highest earners, but also the relationship between City Hall and Albany,” he said.
Mamdani, who took office just three weeks ago, is already facing a $12.6 billion budget deficit expected to hit the city in the next two fiscal years. He condemned his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams, for Gotham’s fiscal woes but said the state was on steady ground.
“I think that it’s actually the governor’s fiscal stewardship, I think it’s also the strength of our city’s tax base, that the state is on firm financial footing,” he said.
“The issue, however, is that the city is not, and that is a result, a direct result of Eric Adams’s gross fiscal mismanagement,” he added.
The mayor’s comments are the latest blow to Hochul as she tries to balance appeasing the left of the party while trying to appeal to moderates and independents in the suburbs. The governor is already facing a party primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado who is running to her left.
Republican Bruce Blakeman, who is the Nassau County executive, has pounced in the early days of the campaign and portrayed the governor as beholden to the liberal wing of her party.
Hochul had endorsed Mamdani in a shock move during his 2025 campaign, then faced supporters chanting at her to “Tax the Rich” at a large rally of his supporters.
Despite Mamdani’s unrelenting push to raise taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, City Comptroller Mark Levine’s recent report showed that tax revenues increased 7% in Fiscal Year 2026.
“This wasn’t caused by a bad economy — it’s the result of budgeting decisions from the previous administration that we must now deal with,” Levine said.
Hochul hasn’t completely ruled out future tax increases after the November elections, but her budget director Blake Washington told the Post Tuesday it was something she wanted to avoid.
“She thinks it’s a last resort to raise taxes on anybody at any time,” Washington said.
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