New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s biggest priority got a nice bump on Wednesday as new polling found a majority of New Yorkers support his proposal to tax the rich.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the latest Siena poll, 54% of voters said Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state Legislature should approve a tax hike on New York City residents making over $1 million. The question posed to voters also included Mamdani\u2019s ultimatum that he would be forced to raise property taxes on everyone in the city if the state did not permit an income tax increase on the city\u2019s wealthiest. Only 29% of those polled said state leaders should not back Mamdani\u2019s proposal.<\/p>\n
Support for taxing the rich was higher among New York City voters surveyed by Siena. In the Big Apple, 62% of voters said state leaders should approve the tax hike. And an even larger majority of Democrats \u2013 a whopping 72% \u2013 gave the proposal a thumbs up.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s good news for Mamdani, who is taking a big gamble pitting taxing the rich against increasing property taxes as the only options he has to fill a roughly $5 billion budget hole while dealing with a governor so opposed to hiking taxes. Hochul has repeatedly ruled out the possibility of heeding Mamdani\u2019s pleas, in keeping with her policy since taking office of opposing tax increases. The governor has shown a willingness to extend higher tax rates that were set to sunset \u2013 as when she extended a higher tax rate for high-earners in the state last year and proposed extending a higher corporate tax rate this year \u2013 but she has rejected any new tax hikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we enter budget month for the state, neither Hochul nor either house of the Legislature has indicated public support for Mamdani\u2019s request to allow New York City to raise personal income taxes on City residents earning at least $1 million,\u201d said Siena pollster Steven Greenberg. \u201cYet, the public is on Mamdani\u2019s side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n