Mamdani's 'painful' tax hike threat mocked by Washington Post for proving 'socialist utopia is expensive'
The Washington Post editorial board claimed on Wednesday that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's threat of a "painful" property tax hike was an "admission" that the city has a spending problem.
"Socialist utopia is expensive, but the new mayor didn’t exactly inherit a frugal city," the editorial board wrote. "Mamdani is proposing a $127 billion budget, up $5 billion from last year. That’s a city budget bigger than the state budgets of 47 states. Even the state government of Florida (population 23 million) spends less than New York City’s. And the state still managed to attract hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in recent years."
The board continued, "The reality is that Americans may like the idea of 'free' stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it."
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During a news conference on Tuesday, Mamdani called on New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers in Albany to raise income taxes on the "ultra-wealthy and the most profitable corporations" to help close the city's budget gap.
If they do not, Mamdani warned about "painful decisions of last resort" that include a potential 9.5% property tax increase. This increase would affect approximately three million homes across working and middle-class New Yorkers.
The Washington Post editorial board pointed out that Hochul had rejected the idea of tax hikes and instead encouraged Mamdani to expand his "laughable number" of spending cuts.
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It wrote, "Mamdani claims his administration has found $1.7 billion to cut, but that’s a laughable number. The reality is that Mamdani is trying to expand a city government that already does way too much. The city should provide basic services, such as law and order, but instead it pours billions into social spending like housing and healthcare."
"No one in New York is ambitious enough to dramatically reshape city government, and residents either vote for class warfare or vote with their feet. A reckoning will have to come eventually. The question is how bad it gets before reality sets in," the editorial board concluded.
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Fox News Digital reached out to Mamdani's office for comment.
Mamdani has also suggested a reduction of the New York Police Department to combat the budget crisis, proposing a $22 million budget cut and canceling a plan to hire 5,000 new officers.
Despite Mamdani's urgency to increase revenue and save money, his proposed FY 2027 budget still included millions for "racial equity" offices and diversity officials.