(The Center Square) — President Trump is renewing criticism of New York City Zohran Mamdani, saying his tax policies will “ruin” the city and rekindling threats to withhold federal funding.
“Look at New York. I mean, he’s a nice guy. Calls me all the time, says hi, but his policies are no good,” Trump said of Mamdani at a Thursday event in Las Vegas. “He’s chasing people out and causing a lot of harm to everybody, and everybody’s taxes are going through the roof.”
Trump took to social media Thursday night, saying Mamdani is “DESTROYING New York!” with his tax policies and reiterating threats to withhold federal funding.
“The TAX, TAX, TAX Policies are SO WRONG. People are fleeing. They must change their ways, AND FAST,” Trump wrote. “History has proven, THIS “STUFF” JUST DOESN’T WORK.”
The president’s criticism comes as Mamdani pushes to hike taxes on New York City’s top earners and businesses to down a projected $5.4 billion budget deficit and fund his far-left agenda. The democratic socialist has threatened to increase property taxes across the board if state leaders don’t approve his plan.
Mamdani rolled out his preliminary $127 billion budget in January that called for fulfilling a campaign pledge to raise taxes by 2% on millionaires and increase the combined corporate tax rate to just over 22% — which would make it the highest in the nation.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul has flatly rejected Mamdani’s calls for a wealth tax, but earlier this week she pitched a “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes in New York City valued at more than $5 million. The governor said the move could help drum up $500 million a year for the city.
The proposal faces backlash from commercial real estate groups who say it could exacerbate a housing shortage, hurt the economy, and drive more people out of the city.
Trump’s renewed criticism of the new mayor suggests cracks are growing in the relationship between the two leaders who, despite being on opposite sides of the political spectrum held a cordial meeting at the White House earlier this year, when Mamdani gifted Trump a mock New York Daily News front page with stories praising the Queens native as a “hometown hero” for providing federal funding for a long-stalled housing project.
But Trump’s threats to pull back federal funding from New York City also came hours after the U.S. Department of Transportation relented on its plans to withhold federal funding for the Second Avenue Subway project.
The Trump administration had withheld about $60 million from the Second Avenue project as it launched a review into whether the project includes diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The DOT said in a statement that the agreement means taxpayers’ “hard-earned dollars will not fund unconstitutional DEI initiatives” and that federal tax dollars are being spent “efficiently and fairly.”
