State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, at an endorsement rally for Democratic mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, said Wednesday he will work with the democratic socialist to boost taxes on New York’s wealthiest residents, setting up a likely showdown in Albany with Gov, Kathy Hochul.
Hochul, who endorsed Mamdani just days ago, is facing a difficult path to re-election in 2026 and has said the issue is a nonstarter for her.
“Millionaire taxes poll extremely well,” Heastie said from the Northeast Bronx YMCA, appearing alongside Mamdani to formally endorse his mayoral campaign. “I do think there will be a robust discussion on revenue raises next year.”
The looming conflict over taxes points to a key challenge Mamdani is likely to face over his plans to fund his affordability agenda by increasing taxes on New Yorkers making $1 million an additional 2% and bosting the corporate tax rate to 11.5%. Mamdani is proposing freezing the rent for stabilized tenants in the city, dramatically expanding free child care for all New Yorkers and making public buses free.
Heastie said he’s looking to work with Mamdani on “all of the above” items on his agenda, including free buses and universal childcare, and that he expected the governor’s support, as well.
Mamdani’s focus on affordability has resonated with New Yorkers. A recent poll by Marist University found that 88% of New Yorker think the city is either “not very affordable” or “not affordable at all.” Just 12% of residents said they believe the city is affordable.
At the same time, Mamdani’s proposed tax hikes have sparked strong pushback in New York’s business community.
In Albany, Heastie and State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins have consistently backed tax hikes on millionaires. Together with Hochul, they are highly influential in charting the state budget deliberations each year.
“I’m not anticipating a fight, and I’m sure those are things that Zohran and the governor have spoken about and I’m sure we’ll figure it out,” Heastie said.
For his part, Mamdani has said he is willing to compromise on aspects of his agenda to get them passed, including by reducing the millionaire tax hike from 2% to 1%.
“If there are other means by which to find that revenue, the most important thing is what we fund, not how we fund,” he said Wednesday.
Hochul has voiced opposition to new tax hikes on the state’s richest residents. The governor endorsed Mamdani in a piece in the New York Times Sunday, where she did not mention Mamdani’s tax plan, but said she reserves the right to disagree with him despite backing his candidacy.
Asked for comment on Heastie’s remarks, a spokesman for Hochul referred to remarks the governor made to reporters Tuesday in which she reiterated that stance.
“No,” the governor said in the Tuesday remarks in response to a question about whether she backs tax hikes now that she has endorsed Mamdani. “There were certain areas where I said I disagree with him. I will always continue to reserve the right to disagree. This does not mean I’ve changed who I am.”
After Heastie’s remarks, a spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, the state Senate’s top Democrat, said she’s on the same page as the speaker in terms of supporting a new millionaires’ tax.
The spokesman noted that, like her counterparts in the Assembly, Stewart-Cousins and her Democratic colleagues have for years included millionaire tax hike provisions in their one-house budget proposals, but those never went anywhere as the governor shot each of them down.
