“To help out New York City, we’re finalizing the details of a pied-à-terre tax to help close the city’s budget cap without eroding its tax base or burdening hard working New Yorkers.”
New York Governor Kathy Hochul unveiled the state's $268 billion 2027 budget on Thursday morning, including $28 billion for socialist Zohran Mamdani's New York City, far from what is needed to close the city’s budget gap. This comes after Mamdani pressured Hochul to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and on corporations. However, she did not mention any tax increases aside for a proposed "pied-à-terre tax" on second homes in the city to raise tax revenue as the Big Apple is facing a $10 billion shortfall in 2027.
"To help out New York City, we're finalizing the details of a pied-à-terre tax to help close the city's budget cap without eroding its tax base or burdening hard-working New Yorkers. And I'll have more to say on that soon, but I want to be very clear, my commitment to New York City has been and always will be ironclad. This budget already includes $28 billion in total aid for the city," Hochul said.
She noted that the total funding also includes a $9 billion increase from when she took office, but it is only a $2.2 billion increase since the FY 2026 budget was proposed, giving the Big Apple $25.8 billion. The pied-à-terre tax is only expected to raise around $320 million in tax revenue, far from the needed $5.4 billion to close the budget gap in 2026, per the New York Post. The New York City comptroller’s office expects that the $5.4 budget gap will balloon to $10.4 billion in 2027 unless more is done.
Hochul also took aim at the Trump administration, saying that the administration "gutted federal funds that we've learned to rely on," which included $10 billion. She also touted how she has pushed sanctuary city policies, which bar local police from working with ICE to detain illegal immigrants.
The delayed budget, originally due on April 1, comes after Mamdani has been pressuring Hochul and begging for Albany to send them more funding as the Big Apple is facing a $5.4 billion budget gap. Ahead of Hochul unveiling the budget, state lawmakers were working to adjust pension funds and were hashing out up until Wednesday evening. The governor has been adamant that Mamdani needs to shore up some funds in the city in order to save his ever-growing $127 billion budget.
The proposed budget from Mamdani is roughly half the size of the entire state government's budget. Mamdani has proposed little aside from pressuring Hochul on the subject of more funding to close the $5.4 billion budget gap.
When he proposed his budget in February, Mamdani said that unless Hochul raised taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations, he would be forced to raise property taxes on all of those in the Big Apple.
“There are two paths to bridge this gap. The first is the most sustainable and the fairest path," Mamdani said at the time. "This is the path of ending the drain on our city and raising taxes on the richest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations. The onus for resolving this crisis should not be placed on the backs of working and middle-class New Yorkers if we do not fix the structural imbalance and do not heed the calls of New Yorkers to raise taxes on the wealthy."
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/2023838095263871299
"This crisis will not disappear. It will simply return year after year, forcing harder and harsher choices each time. And if we do not go down the first path, the city will be forced down a second, more harmful path. Faced with no other choice, the city would have to exercise the only revenue lever fully within our own control. We would have to raise property taxes."
Libby’s Desk
Commentary and must-reads from Libby’s desk, straight to your inbox.
TPM Newsletter
The Post Millennial’s top stories, delivered to your inbox.
