{"id":150989,"date":"2026-03-03T14:18:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/150989\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T14:18:10","slug":"op-ed-our-homes-are-not-political-leverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/150989\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed | Our homes are not political leverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1993, a commission convened under Mayor\u00a0David Dinkins\u00a0reached a blunt conclusion<\/a>\u00a0that New York City\u2019s property tax system, \u201cnot only appears unfair, it is unfair.\u201d The commission found a structure that favored higher-income property owners while burdening middle-class and Black and brown homeowners, particularly in the outer boroughs.<\/p>\n

More than three decades later, that injustice remains largely intact.\n<\/p>\n

Successive mayors have acknowledged the problem. Each promised reform. None delivered. Property tax reform became a political third rail\u2014too risky to touch and convenient to defer.\n<\/p>\n

That history is what makes the current moment so consequential.\n<\/p>\n

Mayor\u00a0Zohran Mamdani revived the prospect of reform,\u00a0pledging to finally fix<\/a>\u00a0a broken system. His budget director, Sherif Soliman\u2014who previously served on Mayor de Blasio\u2019s advisory commission\u2014promised legislation<\/a>\u00a0in Albany. For homeowners long overburdened by inequity, that pledge initially sounded like overdue relief.<\/p>\n

But\u00a0then came the mayor\u2019s threat<\/a>: a 9.5 percent property tax increase to close a projected $5.4 billion deficit if Albany refuses to raise taxes on the wealthy.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be clear. Proposing a property tax hike within a system everyone agrees is broken\u2014while knowing it will\u00a0disproportionately harm<\/a>\u00a0middle-income, Black, and brown homeowners\u2014is not reform. It is leverage. And using people\u2019s homes as leverage is a line no responsible leader should cross.<\/p>\n

This approach is especially troubling because it ignores political reality. Long before this budget proposal surfaced, there were unmistakable signals from Albany that sweeping tax increases would not pass. Governor Kathy Hochul has\u00a0made her position very clear<\/a>. A serious executive would have adjusted course\u2014restraining spending growth, auditing agencies, and pursuing revenue options that did not place homeowners at risk.<\/p>\n

Instead, the mayor chose confrontation over calibration.\n<\/p>\n

The consequences fall hardest on Black New Yorkers. Homeownership remains one of the most powerful tools for closing the racial wealth gap. National data show<\/a>\u00a0Black household net worth increased significantly between 2019 and 2022, with housing accounting for nearly 44 percent of that wealth\u2014the highest share in over a century. Yet Black homeownership in New York City\u00a0has declined by more than<\/a>\u00a013 percent since 2000, even as families leave the city seeking affordability and stability.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the number of cost-burdened households has continued to rise, according to the\u00a0Furman Center<\/a>. Insurance premiums, energy costs, and basic necessities are already climbing. To dangle a tax increase over homeowners in this environment is not just bad policy\u2014it is destabilizing and demoralizing.<\/p>\n

Layered onto this is an unmistakable ideological signal. The mayor\u2019s decision to elevate tenant activist\u00a0Cea Weaver,\u00a0who once described<\/a>\u00a0homeownership as a \u201cweapon of white supremacy,\u201d to a senior role at City Hall raises serious concerns. When that worldview is paired with a threatened property tax hike, homeowners are justified in asking whether they are viewed as stakeholders\u2014or obstacles.<\/p>\n

There are other paths available. The city\u2019s budget gap\u00a0has already narrowed<\/a>\u00a0from earlier projections due to stronger Wall Street revenue, improved tax collections, reserves, and savings. Responsible leadership means exhausting those tools first. It means protecting long-term homeowners, strengthening exemptions for nonprofits and houses of worship, and pursuing reform without inflicting collateral damage.<\/p>\n

Encouragingly, leaders such as\u00a0Council Speaker\u00a0Julie Menin\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Queens Borough President\u00a0Donovan Richards\u00a0<\/a>have publicly rejected property tax hikes. They understand what is at stake.<\/p>\n

Homes are not chess pieces. They are the foundation of family stability, community continuity, and generational opportunity. No mayor\u2014progressive or otherwise\u2014should govern by threatening them.<\/p>\n

New York City does not need political theater. It needs leadership disciplined enough to tell the truth, humble enough to work within reality, and courageous enough to protect all its people while still pursuing reform.<\/p>\n

Reverend Reginald Lee Bachus is Associate Pastor of the landmark Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 1993, a commission convened under Mayor\u00a0David Dinkins\u00a0reached a blunt conclusion\u00a0that New York City\u2019s property tax system, \u201cnot…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[2419,75,84,83,9,24,63,2584,299,87],"class_list":["post-150989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-homes","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-op-ed","tag-opinion","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150989","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=150989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}