New Yorkers Face Likely Tax Hikes No Matter Who Becomes Mayor

A shopper carries bags in New York.

Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg

New York mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to fund free childcare and bus rides by taxing the rich faces steep odds in Albany. But tax hikes may be coming for New Yorkers anyway, regardless of who leads City Hall.

Several lawmakers say higher taxes are inevitable as the Empire State braces for billions in federal cuts to health and food aid under President Donald Trump’s new budget law. That could complicate Mamdani’s plan to get state lawmakers to fund his progressive agenda.