Gov. Kathy Hochul is looking to have it both ways yet again.<\/p>\n
This time, she\u2019s rushing to dodge fury over the pied-\u00e0-terre tax<\/a> she passed into law to please Mayor Zohran \u2014 after months of taking credit for it from tax-the-rich lefties.<\/p>\n Remember: The gov initially boasted about the surcharge on out-of-town property owners, insisting its targets need to \u201cpay their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re talking about people who are ultra-wealthy,\u201d she said \u2014 falsely, since the tax hits owners not just of one- to three-family homes worth $5 million and up, but also of coops and condos valued as low as $1 million. <\/p>\n That was itself a reversal, since she\u2019d vowed time and again to not raise taxes this year, until Mamdani\u2019s mayoral win suggested political winds were shifting.<\/p>\n \t\t\tMore From\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPost Editorial Board<\/p>\n Now she\u2019s embarrassed by City Hall\u2019s rollout of her tax \u2014 the mayor\u2019s gloating videos and social-media posts, his nasty enemies list \u2014 and acting like she\u2019d barely even heard of the tax that her own office designed. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not responsible,\u201d she pleaded Monday, as a judge slapped a freeze<\/a> on it. \u201cIt\u2019s up to [the city\u2019s] tax department.\u201d<\/p>\n More butt-covering: The state will \u201cencourage City Hall to try and streamline this.\u201d <\/p>\n Gee, thanks, gov.<\/p>\n Not that she can stop showing the other face: Her spokesman still stressed that Hochul believes \u201cpeople who can afford a multimillion-dollar second home . . . can afford to pay their fair share.\u201d<\/p>\n Why is an added tax fair, anyway? These people use far less of the public services their regular property taxes pay for. <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet opinions and commentary from our columnists\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tThanks for signing up!\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n More important: Is she down with Mamdani\u2019s \u201ctax the rich\u201d agenda or not?<\/p>\n If she wants the credit, she has to take the blame, too.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not how Hochul rolls.<\/p>\n When her congestion-pricing plan caused an uproar, she halted it . . . until after the next election.<\/p>\n Then she bragged about lowering the toll from $15 to $9, claiming credit for saving motorists 40% \u2014 even as she hit them with thousands<\/a> in new yearly costs.<\/p>\n When her radical climate plan sent utility bills skyrocketing, sparking more anger, she delayed parts of it, boasting she made New York more \u201caffordable\u201d . . . even as she swore to greenies<\/a> she\u2019s as committed as ever to their zero-emissions lunacy.<\/p>\n No wonder she\u2019s ducking debate challenges from challenger Bruce Blakeman, who\u2019d surely call her on all this.<\/p>\n Hochul thinks \u201cif she avoids enough debates, New Yorkers will forget\u201d she\u2019s the country\u2019s worst governor, charged Blakeman<\/a>, citing the states\u2019 nation-leading taxes and electric bills.<\/p>\n She knows her only debate against Lee Zeldin in 2022 nearly cost her<\/a> the election: Hochul insisted she was \u201cfocused on public safety,\u201d then when he accused her of diddling as crime soared, she responded: \u201cI don\u2019t know why that\u2019s so important to you.\u201d<\/p>\n