WASHINGTON — DC Mayor Muriel Bowser took a swipe at Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s plan to raise taxes on New Yorkers and urged Washingtonians to resist any similar efforts.
Bowser (D), who isn’t seeking a fourth term, stressed that the DC Council, not her, is in charge of property tax rate policy, and that sometimes local pols like to copy the Big Apple.
“I just heard the mayor of New York City propose raising property taxes on everybody in New York City,” Bowser said at a Wednesday budget forum with senior residents. “Sometimes these ideas trickle down here.”
“So make sure that when you are talking to members of the Council that you tell them you do not want them to raise your property taxes,” she told residents.
On Tuesday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled a 9.5% property tax hike proposal as a “last resort” option to fund a dramatic $11 billion budget increase over the current year. He also dangled the threat of raiding the city’s reserve funds.
Mamdani has long sought a 2% income tax hike on Big Apple residents making over $1 million to fund a governmental spending spree.
But that hike would require approval from the state, and Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) has opposed it due to concerns about capital flight.
The Big Apple is facing a projected $5.4 billion deficit over two years, according to the mayor. Notably, Mamdani suggested the gap was at about $12 billion just a few weeks ago.
New York state is giving the city $1.5 billion to help plug the gap.
Mamdani’s proposal for a monster property tax hike is largely seen as a ploy to muscle Hochul into green-lighting his demands for an increase on the rich.
Bowser’s jab at Mamdani came while she was underscoring her opposition to property tax hikes and noting that it is “something for us to watch in this budget process.”
She had been asked by a resident who decides whether to jack up property taxes, and about a projected $1 billion budget hole.
Bowser has occasionally butted heads with the progressive flank of her party. For example, in 2023, she vetoed a criminal justice reform measure that passed the city council, fearing it would let crime increase.
Ultimately, the federal government intervened and moved to quash that measure after the Council overrode Bowser’s veto.
The DC mayor also taken heat from the left for attempting to take a diplomatic approach with President Trump, who hasn’t been shy about meddling in the affairs of the nation’s capital.
