Zohran Mamdani has had a rather interesting first two months in office.
He has already broken several campaign promises, as well as being held liable in the public’s eye for the unnecessary deaths of the homeless during the recent winter storms.
Well, he just dropped another doozie, suggesting a significant property tax hike to make up his spending shortfall.
After taking office, Mamdani broke what had been tradition in New York City in rounding up the homeless when a major storm or cold front was expected.
Typically, police would sweep homeless camps and try to move them to shelters so they could be protected from the storm. That did not happen during the recent storms, and nearly two dozen homeless people died in the storms.
That policy has now been reversed, with his office stating, “When Mayor Mamdani took office, he paused the failed encampment sweep policies of the past, making clear that the city would no longer rely on approaches that simply moved people from block to block without real support.
“The goal is to maximize placements into shelter and connect unhoused New Yorkers to the services they need so that when DSNY clears an encampment on day seven, meaningful progress has already been made.”
Mamdani continues to put pressure on Hochul to get her to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to get him the billions he needs for his giveaway programs.
Hochul has already agreed to give Mamdani $1.5 billion in funding from the state coffers, but he claims the city is facing a “historic” shortfall of $5.4 billion.
He offered two paths to meet that shortfall.
The first path would be Mamdani’s tax-the-rich scheme, and the most profitable companies in the state.
The second path deserves its own section because if Mamdani does this, he is going to crush the average Joe in the city, and it would likely result in a mass exodus.
Path two is to raise property taxes by 9.5%, which CNN contributor Kevin O’Leary called “bat cuckoo crazy.”
He said he would award Mamdani the “Real Estate Agent of the Year” award if he does for people leaving NYC and heading to Florida. He stated, “What he is proposing is beyond insane, but I love it. You guys live here, you’re not paying your fair share. You got to pay 110%, that’s the right thing to do because he’s not cutting spending.”
Mamdani’s budget plan is a $15 billion increase from FY 2025, so rather than trim spending, which he could easily do, he is going to hit the back of the everyday working stiff in the state. Again, I am sorry that I cannot be sorry for New Yorkers. They overwhelmingly voted this man into power, and now they are paying for it, literally.
