"On the last Wednesday in January, Mayor Zohran Mamdani stood at a lectern in City Hall's Blue Room and announced the city was facing a dire crisis: a $12 billion budget gap, larger than the deficit during the Great Recession or COVID. "It means," he said, "that the time has come to tax the richest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations.""
"It was a gauntlet laid at the feet of Governor Kathy Hochul, who sought to align with the new mayor even as his supporters hounded her with chants of "Tax the rich." But Hochul has insisted she won't. "I don't believe in taxing for the sake of taxing. Never have, never will," she said in response to Mamdani's budget address."
"A week after calling on the governor to raise taxes, he endorsed her bid for reelection, even as she was fending off a challenge from Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, who promised to raise taxes on the rich. Then the Mamdani team went further by lobbying the left-wing Working Families Party to not back Delgado, despite the fact the WFP has been pushing for higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations for years, believing that the newly emboldened left should start winning power."
New York City faces a $12 billion budget gap, larger than deficits during the Great Recession or COVID. Mayor Zohran Mamdani called for taxing the richest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations in response. Governor Kathy Hochul rejected that approach, saying she does not believe in taxing for its own sake. A week after urging higher taxes, Mamdani endorsed Hochul's reelection and lobbied the Working Families Party to withhold support for Antonio Delgado. The WFP made no endorsement and Delgado dropped his bid. Organizers scheduled a 'Tax the Rich' rally for late February; Mamdani signaled he would not attend.
Read at Intelligencer
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