Zohran Mamdani’s Budgetary Buffoonery

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

When Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor, he sold New Yorkers a vision of relief. Free childcare. Free buses. A rent freeze. A city that would finally tilt toward the struggling rather than the secure. What he did not campaign on was a nearly 10% property tax hike affecting more than three million residences and over 100,000 commercial properties. Yet, days after his election, here we are.

The proposal, floated as leverage in a standoff with Kathy Hochul, is being marketed as a reluctant last resort. But for a mayor elected on affordability, threatening one of the broadest tax increases available to City Hall is not just ironic—it’s revealing. When the numbers got tight and Albany didn’t comply, Mamdani’s idiotic grand promises collided with fiscal gravity. And instead of rethinking the scale of the agenda, the answer was to reach for the biggest local tax lever available.

Truly a courageous and brilliant new strategy from the left: raising taxes. How novel.

This is not some clever new framework. Property taxes are the most predictable, blunt instrument in municipal finance. They are also uniquely capable of rippling through the housing market in exactly the way Mamdani claims to oppose. Owners of small apartment buildings do not absorb cost increases out of civic virtue. Co-op boards don’t shrug off higher levies as symbolic gestures. Costs get passed along where they can be. Where they can’t, maintenance gets deferred. Either way, renters feel it.

It is a strange approach for a mayor who built his brand on a rent freeze. Even in regulated markets, rising operating costs create pressure. Insurance goes up. Taxes go up. Financing tightens. The idea that rents will somehow remain untouched while property taxes jump by nearly double digits requires a level of magical thinking that would make even this idiot’s campaign rally blush.

And the politics are riskier than they appear. Many of the people who voted for Mamdani also own property—brownstones in Brooklyn, co-ops in Queens, small multifamily homes in the Bronx. They may support progressive goals in theory. They are probably, however, less enthusiastic about writing materially larger checks to City Hall in practice. The coalition that cheers bold rhetoric can fracture quickly when the bill arrives.

 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Using this coupon entitles you to 50% off an annual subscription to Fringe Finance for life: Get 50% off forever

Meanwhile, the wealthiest residents—the ones progressives often argue should shoulder more of the burden—are the most mobile. Florida and Texas have spent years positioning themselves as lower-tax alternatives. Some migration has already occurred. More importantly, the perception has taken hold that New York’s reflex, when faced with a budget gap, is to tax what it can reach.

That perception matters. Capital is cautious. Businesses consider long-term operating costs. High earners with flexibility do the math. A city that signals fiscal instability or punitive tax swings makes those calculations easier. Wealth doesn’t leave overnight in caravans, but it leaves incrementally. A family here. A fund there. A company’s next expansion somewhere else.

None of this solves the structural problem Mamdani says he is fighting. A nearly 10 percent property tax hike does not reform the inequities in the property tax system. It does not fundamentally restructure spending. It does not magically close a multibillion-dollar gap without consequences. It simply shifts pressure onto homeowners, landlords, and—inevitably—renters.

It’s true that New York City has survived worse than one mayor’s budget gambit. It survived the fiscal crisis of the 1970s. It survived waves of out-migration before. It will survive this. The question is not whether the city endures, but what it looks like after years of governing by threat and tax hike. If the answer to every shortfall is to squeeze the remaining tax base harder, how many people with the means to leave will decide they’ve had enough?

And if that exodus accelerates, who exactly will be left to fund the next round of bullshit socialist promises?

Now read:

• “Uniquely Destructive”: Matt Taibbi Talks Epstein Files
• Sh*t Is Getting Ugly In This One Sector I’d Avoid
• When Both Sides Go Quiet
• Bitcoin Mining and the Electricity Grid: A Quiet Savior
• Down 60%, One Stock I Still Love
• Countdown to Detonation: America’s Leverage Problem

QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.

This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them. I failed Algebra in 8th grade and topped off my high school math accolades by getting a D- in remedial Calculus my senior year, before becoming an English major in college so I could bullshit my way through things easier. I am an investor in Mark’s fund.

The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.