Mamdani: NYC property tax hike is 'last resort' to balance budget

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said a property tax increase would be a last-resort move to close a $5.4 billion shortfall in his preliminary $127 billion budget. His preferred path is to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, but that option requires buy-in from the state, where Gov.

Kathy Hochul has been lukewarm. Without Albany’s cooperation, Mamdani said he would consider a 9.5% property-tax increase. He called that course “painful” and “a tool of very last resort,” and warned it would fall hardest on middle-class residents; multi-unit buildings face higher effective rates and higher levies on landlords could translate into higher rents.

City Comptroller Mark Levine praised the mayor for outlining the scale of the challenge but cautioned that relying on a property-tax hike and drawing down reserves “would have dire consequences,” calling the city’s property-tax system “profoundly unfair and inconsistent” and an across-the-board increase regressive.

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