Zohran Mamdani blasted the city-council" rel="tag">New York City Council’s proposed fiscal 2027 budget last week, saying it would “result in slashing billions of dollars from agency budgets, which would force the City to cut services.” He aimed particular ire at Speaker Julie Menin, even as the council says its plan does not cut services at all.
The council proposal instead adds social welfare spending and would make the Fair Fares program free for low-income New Yorkers riding the bus and subway. The benefit is means-tested and targets relief to needy riders, a detail that undercuts Mamdani’s argument that the plan is an austerity blueprint.
Menin also lacks the votes to do what Mamdani is warning about. Even if she wanted to impose service cuts or shrink the city workforce, she would not have the support to force that through the council. What the body does intend to do is close the city’s budget gap with revenue re-estimates, efficiency savings and targeted tax increases.
That includes a proposal to raise $1 billion over two years by reducing the application of the Pass Through Entity Tax credit, a change that would require Albany’s approval. About 95 percent of people receiving the PTET credit have adjusted gross incomes above $1 million, which is why the council is steering the fight toward wealthy taxpayers rather than broad service cuts.
The numbers show why that choice is politically potent. In 2023, New York households with $1 million or more in adjusted gross incomes accounted for 0.7 percent of state personal income tax filers, but 26 percent of income and 41 percent of total income taxes paid. Mamdani has insisted that higher taxes are needed to avoid austerity, and has used the slogan “tax the rich” to press that case.
The council’s plan is being presented as more fiscally responsible and more pro-economic growth than the mayor’s proposal, but it also exposes how dependent New York State and City remain on millionaire earners to sustain the tax base. That dependence is the reason the battle over Julie Menin’s budget is really a fight over who gets spared and who gets asked to pay more.
