Mamdani Pressures Hochul To Jack Up Taxes On Rich Amid NYC Budget Woes

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has lots of ideas – virtually all of which require extracting more money from taxpayers, as socialists tend to do. 

To accomplish this, he’s gonna need some help – and has been leaning on Gov. Kathy Hochul to hike taxes on the state’s richest residents and corporations in the hopes of raising billions more to send to the Big Apple to plug mounting budget holes, Bloomberg reports.

Mamdani, the newly-sworn in democratic socialist, is arguing additional money from the state is necessary because the city faces a fiscal “crisis” created by his predecessor Eric Adams and by a push from former Governor Andrew Cuomo to shift costs from the state onto the city. Both Cuomo and Adams ran against Mamdani in last year’s mayoral election. 

At present, NYC is looking at a $12.6 billion budget gap, in what Mamdani recognized as the largest deficit since the 2008 recession. On Wednesday, he launched a new campaign to lobby Albany for more annual aid – stressing that the Big Apple generates $21 billion more in revenue for the state than it receives. 

🚨 BREAKING: Mayor Zohran Mamdani Says New York City is Facing a “Fiscal Crisis at the Scale of the Great Recession”

“That means looking inward into savings and efficiencies. That also means raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations.” pic.twitter.com/ck89QhFFwL

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) January 28, 2026

“These budget gaps did not arrive by accident — they are the direct consequence of Eric Adams staggering fiscal mismanagement,” Mamdani told the outlet in an interview, adding that social safety nets for the city’s poor and homeless have been underbudgeted. 

Cuomo, who Mamdani also blames, said through spokesman Rich Azzopardi that the state increased aid to NYC’s schools and absorbed medicaid expenses under the former governor’s tenure, adding “If Mamdani thought the system is unfair, he’s had five years as a state legislator to do something about it.”

Hochul’s Tight Spot

Hochul, meanwhile, has her own election to worry about in November – and notably didn’t include any new taxes on companies or high-income residents in her own budget proposal. 

Not only has she insisted for months that she won’t raise levies, she faces pressure from the business community as well as her likely gubernatorial opponent, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman (R). 

“I don’t believe in raising taxes for the sake of raising taxes,” Hochul told Bloomberg, adding “We have enough revenues to do what we want to do and what we need to do to support our state. So beyond that, I don’t see a justification.”

In short, Mamdani – who campaigned on raising income tax rates by 2% on people earning over $1 million per year, and lifting corporate tax rates by 5% – can pound sand, for now. 

NYC businesses are already saddled with a top tax rate of 17.44%, according to new data set for release this week by acvocacy group Citizens Budget Commission, who also found that the state has the highest per capita tax rate in the United States.

“We must raise taxes on the wealthiest few in New York City so that we can invest in the many,” said Mamdani. “No longer can this city, the economic engine of our state, sustain this kind of an imbalance.”

Mamdani has also floated a one-time wealth tax similar to one proposed in California, which would hit billionaires with a 5% tax on their assets. 

Hochul has already hooked Mamdani up with state funds for two years of childcare for NYC’s two-year-olds, fulfilling at least part of his campaign promises to enact universal childcare for all of the city’s children aged six weeks to 5 years.