{"id":119233,"date":"2026-02-01T20:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/119233\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T20:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:25:08","slug":"cowardly-gov-hochul-will-raise-new-yorks-taxes-after-the-election-ex-gov-pataki-warns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/119233\/","title":{"rendered":"Cowardly Gov. Hochul will raise New York’s taxes after the election, ex-Gov. Pataki warns"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul might pull another switcheroo \u2014 pledging not to raise taxes, only to boost them after the November election, as she did with congestion pricing<\/a>, former Republican Gov. George Pataki warned Sunday.<\/p>\n

Pataki predicted that the dithering Democrat, who is seeking a second, full four-year term,\u00a0will resist\u00a0Big Apple Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s socialist demands<\/a> to hike taxes on the city\u2019s wealthiest residents and corporations \u2014 at least for now. <\/p>\n

But all bets are off after the election, the three-term ex-Gov said, noting that Hochul ditched the hated congestion toll<\/a> to enter the Manhattan business district in June 2024, before then directing the MTA to ram through the $9 toll after the 2024 elections.<\/p>\n

Former New York Gov. George Pataki predicted that Gov. Kathy Hochul will wait until after her election to raise taxes in the Empire State. Robert Miller for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s going to tell him \u2018No\u2019 between now and November because this is an election year. But as soon as November is over, if history with how she acts is any guide, the legislature and she are going to say, \u2018OK. Too bad, but, yes, go raise taxes.\u2019 It will be a disaster,\u201d Pataki warned on 77 WABC\u2019s \u201cCats Roundtable\u201d program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what happened with congestion pricing: \u2018Oh, we\u2019re going to halt congestion pricing.\u2019 And then right after the election, we had congestion pricing,\u201d he told host John Catsimatidis.<\/p>\n

Catsimatidis chimed in, saying he felt like congestion pricing was approved \u201cfive minutes\u201d after the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Pataki, who slashed state income taxes while in Albany, was the last Republican elected to statewide office in 2002.<\/p>\n

He said the mere discussion of tax hikes could be enough to persuade more New Yorkers to flee to sunbelt states <\/a>that have no state income taxes, such as Florida and Texas.<\/p>\n

Pataki compared the potential tax hike to Hochul\u2019s decision to proceed with congestion pricing in Manhattan shortly after the 2024 elections. Kevin C. Downs for The New York Post<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only do we have the second-highest tax burden in the country, but now Mamdani is proposing massive tax increases on successful people in New York \u2026 If that is allowed to happen, it\u2019s going to be a catastrophe,\u201d Pataki said.<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s \u201cvery concerned\u201d and \u201creally worried\u201d about the Empire State\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe [state] budget is out of control \u2026 Wall Street has had a good year, so Albany has money. What does Hochul do? Massive increases in spending,\u201d Pataki said.<\/p>\n

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has called for raised taxes on corporations and high earners. Getty Images for Brooklyn Academy Of Music<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so-called temporary taxes that were passed in Albany 10 years ago that are supposed to be phased out. So long as Hochul and the Democrats run Albany, they\u2019re not going to be phased out. They\u2019re going to be there forever. My fear is that it\u2019s just going to get worse,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Hochul\u2019s camp didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment from The Post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Gov. Kathy Hochul might pull another switcheroo \u2014 pledging not to raise taxes, only to boost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4241,1626,18088,426,57,9,24,55,54,56,13895,87,2780,58,82],"class_list":["post-119233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-albany","tag-bruce-blakeman","tag-george-pataki","tag-kathy-hochul","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-ny-governor-election-2026","tag-politics","tag-taxes","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}