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Mamdani Is Inviting a Property Tax Revolt
New York mayor Zohran Mamdani must rein in spending and stop property taxes from rising or he may face a voter revolt, writes Howard Husock. (Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via AP Images)
His bid to raise rates makes even progressives wonder who they are squeezing.
By Howard Husock
02.19.26 — New York
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New York mayor Zohran Mamdani is frustrated that New York’s governor won’t raise state taxes on the wealthiest to bail the city out of a looming budget deficit of $5.4 billion over the next two years. So he’s found the next best tax target: everybody.

That would be the effect of the 9.5 percent hike in the city’s property tax that Mamdani proposed this week, as it hits everyone from homeowners on Staten Island to tenants whose landlords would have to pass through the hikes or go bust. The deputy speaker of the city council, Nantasha Williams, a member of the council’s progressive caucus, fired the first shot of what could be a Big Apple tax revolt, branding it with the worst slur for a progressive: not “equitable.”

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Howard Husock
Howard Husock is a senior fellow in domestic policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute.
Tags:
Elections
Zohran Mamdani
New York City
Economics
Taxes
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