http://archive.today/2026.02.18-003914/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/17/nyregion/budget-mamdani-property-taxes.html

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday proposed to raise property tax rates in New York City by nearly 10 percent, a measure he is preparing as a “last resort” to be deployed if he cannot persuade Gov. Kathy Hochul to raise income taxes on the wealthy.

“If we cannot follow this first path,” he said, referring to his proposed two-percentage-point income tax hike on wealthier New Yorkers, “we will be forced onto a much more damaging path of last resort — one where we have to use the only tools at the city’s disposal: raising property taxes and raiding our reserves.”

Ms. Menin, a Democrat, said in a statement that she opposed the property tax proposal, but did not recommend a wealth tax increase.

In his campaign for mayor, Mr. Mamdani repeatedly called for a wealth tax to help pay for a universal child care system. But in January, the governor and the mayor agreed on a plan to expand child care without raising taxes.

Now the mayor has shifted the rational* for raising taxes on those earning $1 million or more, saying that it was needed to address the budget gap — which he has blamed on inaccurate number crunching by his predecessor, former Mayor Eric Adams. (Mr. Adams has said he left Mr. Mamdani with over $8 billion in reserves.)

Mr. Mamdani’s most loyal backers echoed the mayor’s messaging that the governor should push for a wealth tax.

* Sic.