Mamdani clashes with Kathy Hochul as ‘catastrophic’ tax plan hangs in balance

Wall Street Journal editor-at-large Gerry Baker warned that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to raise taxes on the wealthy will be “catastrophic” as the Democratic socialist clashes with state leaders over securing approval for his tax plan.

“This is socialism in action, this is the Democratic Party in action and the rest of the country’s watching,” he told Fox News Wednesday

Baker’s remarks on “America Reports” came after Mamdani renewed his calls to increase taxes on high earners, a sentiment firmly opposed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

“What we are hoping for, what we will spend every day looking towards, is working with Albany to increase taxes on the wealthiest and the most profitable corporations such that a fiscal crisis is not resolved on the backs of working and middle-class New Yorkers,” Mamdani said.

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Baker noted the Democratic power struggle between Mamdani and Hochul will not work for the mayor if he wants his plans to go through, since his tax proposal requires her approval at the state level.

“He doesn’t have the option to raise income taxes without approval from the governor,” he said. “So, he’s going to try and do it in other ways, raising property taxes.”

Mamdani issued an ultimatum to Hochul Tuesday, vowing to raise property taxes by nearly 10% if she fails to comply with his income tax increase on the wealthy.

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Also Tuesday, Mamdani proposed the 2027 New York City budget, which is more than double the state budget of Pennsylvania, despite New York City having roughly half the population.

New York City has $127 billion for its population of 8.4 million, while the entire state of Pennsylvania with 13 million people has $53.2 billion.

“They will say, ‘New York City is more, it’s expensive. Everything costs more here, labor is significantly more, wages are higher. So, it’s understandable that New York costs will be a little bit higher.’ But there’s no justification for that,” Baker said

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Baker argued that the socialist mayor’s tax plan will not protect the middle class it claims to be helping.

“The plan he has will hit, not just the rich as they keep claiming, but huge numbers of middle-class taxpayers,” he said.

The WSJ editor also predicted a mass exodus from New York City as Mamdani’s increased taxes edge closer to becoming reality.

“The idea that that’s going to be good for the city, that it’s going be good to tax people even more than they are already, is madness,” Baker said. “It means more people will leave the city than already have. There’s been a steady outflow over many years.“

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Baker said that Hochul has her own left-leaning tendencies in her Democratic governance of New York but wondered whether Mamdani’s extremism will sing louder.

“We’re gonna see on whether Kathy Hochul, who wants her own kind of form of sort of limited socialism… whether her limited form is able to trump Zohran Mamdani’s extremism,” he said.