Mayor Zohran Mamdani continues to support higher taxes and increased government spending at a time when New Yorkers are already struggling with rent, inflation, and the rising cost of living. His FY2027 preliminary budget assumes a 9.5% property tax increase, and he has also backed additional tax proposals targeting wealthy residents, corporations, and estates.

These proposals include a major property tax increase, support for higher taxes on high earners and businesses, and backing a state estate tax proposal that would significantly lower the exemption threshold. While these policies are often framed as targeting only the wealthy, the economic reality is that higher taxes on property owners, businesses, and investors are frequently passed through to others in the form of higher rents, higher prices, reduced investment, and fewer job opportunities. In practice, the financial burden often spreads across homeowners, renters, small businesses, and families already trying to stay afloat in New York City.

Whether these measures are imposed directly by City Hall or pushed through Albany, the result is the same: an increase in the overall cost of living in a city that is already one of the most expensive places in the country.

New Yorkers deserve leadership focused on affordability, efficiency, transparency, and the responsible use of taxpayer dollars. Instead of relying on repeated tax increases and expanding government spending, city leadership should focus on controlling costs, improving services, and making New York more affordable for the people who live and work here.

We call on city leaders to reject policies that make New York City more expensive and to hold Mayor Mamdani accountable for an agenda that threatens the financial stability of residents and businesses across the five boroughs.