Mayor’s Signature Revenue Plan Requires State Legislature Approval, Which Is Approximately the Same as Not Requiring It
Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
Mamdani Vows to Tax the Rich, Discovers Rich Have Lawyers, Albany, and a Startling Array of Exit Options
NEW YORK, NY — Mayor Zohran Mamdani has made taxing wealthy New Yorkers and profitable corporations the centerpiece of his plan to close the city’s $12 billion budget deficit, a proposal that requires approval from the New York State legislature and Governor Kathy Hochul, neither of whom has indicated they plan to provide it in the timeframe required to balance a budget that is legally due in June.
The mayor has called on Albany to act. Albany has noted the call and moved on to other business. The governor has been careful not to anger, according to observers who note that Mamdani treats Hochul with considerably more diplomatic delicacy than he treats Council Speaker Julie Menin, whom he has described as proposing “fuzzy math” and whose millionaire status has been highlighted by the mayor’s political network in what is either a factual observation or a strategic deployment of class rhetoric depending on your perspective.
The Revenue Architecture
The plan to tax wealthy New Yorkers faces several structural obstacles that are familiar to anyone who has observed New York governance for more than one election cycle. First, city income taxes on New York State residents require state approval. Second, wealthy New Yorkers facing new taxes have a documented tendency to update their primary residence paperwork to reflect a property in Florida, Connecticut, or New Jersey. Third, New York’s tax base has been shrinking since the pandemic, which is the fiscal environment in which the mayor is proposing to make it more expensive to be taxed in New York.
According to Vital City’s analysis, the obstacles to achieving tax reform are “daunting” and the timeline for achieving them is longer than the timeline for producing a balanced budget. These two facts are in tension. The mayor says they are not incompatible. Fiscal analysts say they are. The budget is due in June. It is April. British consumers are the gloomiest since 1978; New York City’s budget office is the most creative since whenever the last time someone tried to solve a $12 billion problem by asking Albany nicely.
What Happens Next
The city will likely raise property taxes, dip into reserves, defer some pension contributions, and produce a budget that both the mayor and the Council describe as a victory. Mamdani has also declared war on empty mansions through a proposed vacancy tax, which real estate lawyers are describing as interesting and constitutional scholars are describing as litigable. The rich are following the litigation with the focused attention of people for whom legal fees are a manageable line item.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/mamdani-declares-war-on-empty-mansions/