Even some Democrats in leftist New York City (NYC) are complaining about Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s latest moves, including his push for even higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents.
“These six weeks have been a horrible mess,” an unnamed Democrat on the NYC Council told the New York Post, referencing the six weeks since Mamdani was inaugurated.
“With snow operations, with the safety of homeless New Yorkers during freezing weather, and now with the budget, Mayor Mamdani continues to show he doesn’t know how this works,” the Democrat added.
The reference to the weather was, in fact, a reference to Mamdani’s massive mishandling of Winter Storm Fern.
All it took was one storm and Mamdani transformed NYC into the slums of India in less than a week. pic.twitter.com/PtCi3NdQgW
— Ty’s Tough Talk🇺🇸 (@toughtalkty) February 1, 2026
The frustration with Mamdani comes as he pushes for even higher taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents.
Speaking with the media after a budget hearing on Wednesday, he swore that raising taxes is the only way to resolve a $7 million budget gap.
“[I]t is one that we believe can be addressed … by increasing taxes on the wealthiest, whether it be New Yorkers who are making a million dollars or more a year or the most profitable corporations,” he said.
But critics weren’t impressed, especially given his bad math-ing. According to the Post, he’d previously told state lawmakers that the city would have a $12 billion budget gap. Instead, it turned out to just be $7 billion.
“The mayor should instill confidence in New Yorkers, but being off by 40% calls into question what message he’s trying to send,” another unnamed Democrat councilmember said.
Councilman Phil Wong, a third Democrat, also slammed Mamdani’s poor math-ing, but without the benefit of anonymity.
“New Yorkers deserve honest accounting, not shifting numbers, especially when hardworking taxpayers are footing the bill,” he said. “Both sides of City Hall have a responsibility to take the budget seriously, safeguard every dollar, and focus on real solutions instead of political messaging.”
New Yorkers BLAST Mayor Mamdani as snow covered sidewalks remain unusable days after the storm.🔥
Sadly, they voted for his incompetence. pic.twitter.com/Hs7MS5m3Ev
— David J Harris Jr (@DavidJHarrisJr) January 31, 2026
Local Republicans, meanwhile, were even more scathing in their criticism.
“I think the mayor miscalculated the impact that sounding the false alarm on the budget would have on his signature ‘tax the rich’ plan, and it hurt his credibility,” Council Minority Leader David Carr said. “It was the equivalent of screaming fire in a crowded theater when the popcorn machine was broken.”
Councilwoman Joann Ariola, another Republican, accused Mamdani of having purposefully mixed up his numbers.
“This is a textbook case of fearmongering to deliver on his (Democratic Socialists of America) campaign agenda,” she said. “This was a purposeful, multi-billion dollar scare tactic to squeeze more taxes out of the residents of New York City, and that’s unacceptable.”
State lawmakers, meanwhile, were annoyed by Mamdani’s argument that the state taxes collected in NYC are subsidizing the rest of the state.
“The argument that New York City is paying 54 percent of the taxes and essentially the rest of us are takers, I don’t think is a healthy one,” Assemblyman Pat Burke, a Democrat, said.
Mamdani had his first major snowstorm hit days ago.
10 people died because he wouldn’t force the homeless off the streets and he still hasn’t figured out how to remove snow from the sidewalks.
In case you were wondering how the commie wonder is doing.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) February 1, 2026
Mamdani also faces opposition from Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is keen on not raising taxes on anybody, including the wealthy.
“The Governor’s position has not changed,” her spokesperson confirmed to the Post.
It’s a position shared by Republicans like state Sen. Andrew Lanza.
“New York City has been unaffordable for a very long time and I am so happy to hear you talk about it and we need to address it,” he told Gothamist. “It seems to me that the biggest culprit is government — taxes, fees. If we really want to immediately, quickly and effectively make New York City more affordable, we need to cut taxes and fees.”
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V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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