NYC NOW - Mayor Mamdani and Hochul Clash Over Taxes & NYPD Changes Hate Crime Reporting

Episode Date: March 18, 2026

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is pushing to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers and corporations as part of state budget negotiations in Albany, setting up a clash with Gov. Kathy Hochul, who opposes increasing income taxes. WNYC reporter Jon Campbell explains what lawmakers are proposing and how the fight could shape the city’s finances. Plus, the NYPD is changing how it reports hate crimes and will now publish only cases investigators confirm as hate crimes. WNYC reporter Ben Feuerherd explains why the department made the change and why some experts worry it could make trends harder to track.

From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Jene Pierre. There's a fight happening in Albany. In one corner, it's Governor Kathy Hokel. In the other, it's New York City Mayor Zoramam Dani. The two are clashing over state budget negotiations and whether to increase taxes on wealthy New Yorkers. On today's episode, we discuss how it's all playing out.

But first, here's what's happening in our region. Mayor Mumdani's administration is, moving to stop representing former mayor Eric Adams in his ongoing sexual assault case. According to a new court filing, the city's corporation council, Steve Banks, wrote that Adams was not acting within the scope of his official duties when the alleged assault happened in 1993. The former mayor's accuser says they were both working at the NYPD when he forced himself on her. Adam says the encounter never happened. The lawsuit was filed under a state law that allowed alleged victims of sexual abuse to bring legal claims outside the statute of limitations.

The MTA is suing the Trump administration over its order to freeze federal funding for the Second Avenue subway extension. The transit agency says they're owed nearly $60 million from the feds. Here's MTA chair Jan O'Leber explaining why the agency felt the need to sue. The time has come for Second Avenue subway to say federal government has to make good on its legal commitments. In the grant, agreement, which says you've got to pay, reimburse us when we put in the requisitions, and they continue to refuse to do so. Under former President Joe Biden, the Federal Transportation Department signed off on a $3.4 billion

grant for the project. It covers a little bit less than half the project's total cost. The work will extend the queue line north into East Harlem and will add three new stations. The Trump administration says it's considering all legal avenues. Poverty rates are up again. in New York City. About one and four residents lived in poverty in 2024. That's a slight increase from the year before. The data was compiled by the anti-poverty group Robin Hood and Columbia University. The groups say the most recent numbers are the highest since they began tracking

data a decade ago. The report says nearly half a million children were living in poverty in 24, and Asian and Latinos were twice as likely to experience poverty than white New Yorkers. Robin Hood says the numbers could get worse as the city prepares for two major federal safety programs to shrink, Medicaid and SNAP. That's a program that helps families afford groceries. Still ahead, state lawmakers seem to be backing Mayor Mumdani's push to tax the rich, setting up a clash with Governor Hockel. That's coming up after a quick break. Welcome back. New York lawmakers in Albany are backing a key piece of Mayor Zora-Mumdani's agenda, raising income and business taxes on wealthy New Yorkers to bring billions more into New York City.

But that support is setting up a clash with Governor Kathy Hokel, who has repeatedly said that she doesn't want to raise income taxes. The fight is now playing out in the state budget negotiations. WNYC's John Campbell has been following it all. And he joins me now. Hey, John. Hey, Janay. So let's start with this proposal. What taxes are lawmakers looking to raise on wealthy residents and businesses? Well, the big thing the Senate and the Assembly are looking to do is to hike taxes on the wealthy and on corporations.

And, you know, their proposals vary slightly, but basically they'd apply to anybody who makes at least $5 million a year, which... I'm definitely not in that number, John. Not me either. But they also want to increase the corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 9%. And then there's a whole bunch of smaller tax proposals, too. I mean, for example, Jena, do you know what gold bullion is? Gold bars or pure gold? See, I didn't know what it was.

But, yeah, it's like... See, I'm almost rich, so I'm going to know. There you go. So it's like gold bars and coins that are, that investors spy, right? It's not jewelry, but it's... It's like literally gold bars. And in New York, they're not subject to sales tax, which is something that I didn't know. And the Senate wants to change that.

That change would bring in literally hundreds of millions of dollars a year. They also want to let New York City make a handful of changes to its tax rates. Lawmakers want to raise what's known as the city's mansion tax, for example. I mean, that would increase the rate for homes that sell for more than $5 million. The Senate wants to tax non-essential. helicopter rides. I mean, these are the rides that have drawn the ire of a lot of Manhattan nights for quite some time. And, you know, some of these are big proposals. Some of them are small. But when you add them up, we're talking about some really serious cash here. I mean, at least

$4 billion on the state side, at least $2.5 billion on the city side. So it's pretty serious stuff. Yeah, and the city can definitely use that money. But, John, I'm curious, how closely does that match what Mayor Mumdani asked Albany to actually do? Well, the answer is it's pretty similar, but it's not exactly the same. So that corporate tax hike that we talked about, it's not quite as big as what Zeran Mamdani campaigned on. And, you know, he wants to, he, meaning the mayor wants the wealth tax to apply to those making at least a million dollars a year, not that $5 million like the lawmakers proposed. Still doesn't include me. But, you know, then there's that handful of other tax proposals from Momdani's team that lawmakers are getting behind,

like that one we just talked about for the gold bars. And, you know, not everything matches up exactly, but lawmakers are really getting behind what Momdani really wants, which is to provide the city with billions of dollars to help fund his agenda of universal child care, free buses, and also, importantly, to close this big budget deficit that the city's facing about $5.4 billion. dollars. And so even though he doesn't exactly match up with the legislators here, he's on board.

Here's what he said about the lawmakers' proposals on Friday. Those are budgets that put forward $5 billion in commitments in a mixture of new revenue and a change in the cost sharing towards the city. And that is the very kind of partnership that could put our city back on the firm financial footing that's required. So he's clearly aligning himself with lawmakers as they start negotiating with government. or Hockel on a final budget this month. Yeah, for sure. John, before we go any further, can you explain why this fight is happening in Albany? Why does New York City need the state's permission to raise certain taxes like income taxes? Yeah, I mean, it does seem a little weird,

right? I mean, New York City is huge, right? You wouldn't think it would have to go to Albany all the time for permission. But you can thank the New York State Constitution for that and, you know, how the court system has interpreted it over the years. That constitution says municipalities are in charge of their, quote, property affairs and government. But the way that's been interpreted by the courts over the years, I mean, the state has a ton of sway over all local governments throughout New York, not just New York City. I mean, that sets up a very state heavy form of government. And it means the city does have to get permission from the state to do all sorts of things. I mean, take mayoral control of the city school system.

I mean, that's something that Mike Bloomberg fought for, but he needed Albany approval to do it. And it's something that Albany has to re-up every few years. I mean, it's even up for renewal this year. And there's any number of things, speed cameras or hiking the city's income tax or that mansion tax that we talked about. Those are all things that get wrapped up in Albany. And it's really a big reason why Mayor Maldani has, you know, befriended Governor Hockel, even if they don't see eye to eye on things like taxing the rich,

he knows that she's got just huge sway over the city and whether or not he can accomplish his agenda that he laid out in his mayoral campaign. So lawmakers seem to be pretty open to this idea, but Governor Hockel has been clear that, you know, she just doesn't want to raise income taxes. Why? Like, what is she saying? How big, you know, of a clash is this shaping up? to be in the budget negotiations. Well, Jeanne, it's a pretty big clash in the sense that, you know, you have one side wants one thing and the other side doesn't want that one thing.

But, you know, the governor has said that thanks to some better than expected revenues, Wall Street in particular, is to thank for that. She believes the state has enough money to do what it needs to do. I mean, here's what she said about that at an event hosted by the new site Politico. Wall Street businesses looking at Texas, they're not going there because they have a nicer governor. I know that for sure. But they're going there because of the tax rate. We have to be smart about this.

But we can fund what we want to fund with what we already are taking in. Wait, what does she mean here? What is it that they want to fund, John? Well, they want to fund all sorts of things, including an expansion of child care. That is a big thing where Mayor Mom Donnie and Governor Hokel sees. eye to eye. They have a shared goal of getting to universal child care. But, you know, it's also important to note here, too, that Governor Kokel hasn't explicitly ruled out a corporate tax hike, the same way that she has ruled out an income tax hike. And the same can be said for all sorts of those other

tax increases, too, like getting rid of that tax credit for gold bars. So there could be some room for compromise there. And, you know, while it is a clash in some sense, so far it has. It has. And, hasn't really gotten nasty or personal. All of the players here are Democrats. We're talking the governor, assembly speaker Carl Hasty, Senate leader, Andrea Stewart Cousins. And they all have a fairly good working relationship at this point. Democrats dominate both houses of the legislature, but, you know, they aren't all from the left side of the spectrum. Both chambers do have a fair amount of moderates like Hocles. So, you know, all that said, things can change pretty quickly. But at point, it seems like the governor and the legislative leaders are pretty committed to, you know,

reaching a compromise here. You know, John, as you and I both know, taxing the rich is something that Mayor Mumdine campaigned on and he was indeed endorsed by Governor Kathy Hokel. Was she ever on board with this? No, this is an area where they have never seen eye to eye. And, you know, when they're asked about it, they talk about the need to work together and the need for the state and the city to kind of have a unified front, but that has not extended the issue of how to pay for it. And the governor has been very, very steadfast in opposing income tax hikes. The mayor has been very, very steadfast in supporting them. And at some point, it's unstoppable force, immovable object.

The mayor has warned that if Albany doesn't approve these taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, the city may have to actually raise property taxes instead. How real is that possibility? Well, Janay, that kind of goes back to what we were talking about before with the state constitution. Remember how I said the constitution lets municipalities deal with their property affairs and government. I mean, that means that the city is in charge of setting its own property taxes and they keep that revenue. So it's one of these relatively rare taxes that Mayor Maumadani and the city council can set on their own without state approval. That said, though, everybody seems to hate the idea of raising property.

taxes. You know, the city council hates it. The governor hates it. State lawmakers hate it. But we asked Speaker hasty about it this week and he basically said, you know, listen, I get it. The mayor's hands are tied and, you know, this is one tax the city can actually raise on its own. So he's doing what he has to do, but the speaker made clear he's not going to let it happen. He says he's committed to making sure the city and other cities across the state like Buffalo, which is also in financial distress. He wants to make sure they're on solid financial grounds. in the state budget. As I'm saying to you, I'm committed to making sure that the city and all of the cities around the state are on solid financial ground. So that's what my commitment is.

Let's step back for a moment and talk about power dynamics here. I mean, who actually has the leverage in these negotiations? Is it the governor, the legislature, or the mayor? And also, John, like, what happens if they can't reach a deal? Well, you know, there's different levers that each of them can poll. But really, without a doubt, the governor has the most leverage here. She has the most sway over the language that actually gets into the budget. And she can veto individual revenue lines if she wants, if it gets to that point. But the mayor and lawmakers are banking on the power of public persuasion.

I mean, tax hikes on the wealthy poll very, very well. And on some level, that makes sense, right? I mean, the vast majority of people that are polled wouldn't be hit with those income tax hikes. But lawmakers, the mayor, they're hoping that the public pressure gets to be too much for Hockel and that she gets on board. That said, she hasn't budged on this issue for more than four years. And she's running her reelection campaign on a message of affordability and tax hikes probably would fly in the face of that. So there's been no signs of any budging on her part so far this year. And, you know, what happens if they deadlock?

That means that that March 31st, April 1st budget deadline gets pushed back. They pass a short-term extension after short-term extension until they can reach some sort of compromise. In the past, we've seen that go to April, May, June. You know, we could be in for a summer budget battle in all. Oh, boy. That's not how I plan to spend my summer. And I'm sure that's not how you plan to spend yours. Not how I plan to, but, you know, my hands are kind of tied there.

Yeah. That's WMYC's John Campbell. Thanks a lot, John. Thanks, Renee. Earlier this year, the NYPD reported a sharp spike in hate crimes across New York City. In January alone, the department counted dozens of incidents. That's a significant increase from the same time last year. Now, the department says it's changing the way those crimes are reported to the public. And some hate crimes experts say the shift can make it harder to understand what's actually happening. WNYC and Gothamist reporter Ben Fjuerth has been looking into all of this.

Hey, Ben. Hey, how's it going? Pretty good. So earlier this year, the NYPD reported a 152% spike in hate crimes. What exactly were they seeing in the data at that moment? Yeah, so when the NYPD reported their crime figures for January, they provide a comparison to the figures for the same period last year. So January 2026 compared to January 2025.

And in January this year, they reported a pretty drastic jump in hate crimes compared to the same month last year. It was 152 percent, like you said. The department said there was a pretty drastic increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes, which they said accounted for more than half of all the hate crimes reported that month. And the numbers also a jump in anti-Muslim hate crimes. There were seven reported in January. this year compared to none, zero, the same period last year. Okay, Ben, before we get into the reporting changes, I just want to get a better understanding

of hate crimes. When we talk about hate crimes in New York City right now, what kinds of incidents are we seeing and what actually qualifies as a hate crime? Yeah, so the NYPD puts out crime statistics every month. They publish them to the public, and they're usually framed as like, sort of like a victory relap for the department because serious crime in New York tends to be at historic lows, things like shootings, homicides, the department, so that they're doing a really good job at keeping those things under control. But the figures also include data on hate crimes. And in January, they noted there was a

significant spike specifically in what they say are anti-Jewish hate crimes. And as for what qualifies the hate crime, so the NYPD has what's called the hate crime task force, which are essentially, it's a unit filled with NYPD detectives and officers who are trained to investigate potential hate crimes. And the NYPD cites specific legal language about what constitute a hate crime in the city and the state. And basically, it's a crime that is motivated in what they call a whole or substantial part by someone or something's identification with a group. So what that means in practice is like if somebody was to target a synagogue or a church, specifically because that bill is, has an association with a religion, you know, that could be a hate crime, certainly.

Okay. Ben, walk us through what is actually changing in the way these crimes will now be reported to the public. Yeah, so up until January, the NYPD released hate crime numbers to the public that included all hate crimes that were reported to them. So what that means is they included potential hate crimes that the department said were still under review. And then after this big spike in January, they changed that. And now they say they, they say, will only release hate crime figures based on those that have already been investigated and confirmed to be hate crimes. So what that means in practice is the hate crimes task force is going to investigate all those reported hate crimes, and those confirmed by the task force are going to be what's in the figures that's publicly released by the department.

Okay. I guess I'm wondering here, like, why did the NYPD decide to change how it reports hate crimes in the first place? I mean, what problem were they trying to address with this? Yeah, so the department, their position is that this shift is going to be a more accurate representation of the actual amount of hate crimes that are happening in the city. And they see it as, you know, pretty straightforward. They say that hate crimes, they can confirm to be hate crimes are the ones that should be counted in the crime figures, which, you know, is probably an explanation that a lot of people will see as valid. Okay. You're saying that the NYPD is saying that it would be more accurate. but I understand that you spoke with researchers who study hate crime data.

Why do they worry that this change could make it harder for the public to track or even understand hate crimes? One person I spoke to is this guy, Brendan Lance, who runs a hate crime policy institute at Florida State University. And he made the point that there's plenty of factors that can stand in the way of an actual hate crime being, quote unquote, confirmed by an agency like the NYPD, meaning if, for example, a victim initially reports a hate crime and then in that investigative process becomes uncooperative with police or with other people doing the investigation, an actual hate crime that that person reported could go unconfirmed. Brendan used a really technical term for these factors that could stop a crime from being confirmed. He called it a filtration mechanism.

The problem with that is that we know it's well documented in hate crime literature that there are a lot of filtration mechanisms that essentially occur between when it's reported to, in this case the NYPD as a potential hate crime, and when it gets to the point where it's confirmed or founded as a hate crime. And not every single one of those filtration mechanisms is actually related to whether or not it's a true hate crime. My reaction would be that is going to create a measurement problem where we are effectively undermeasuring them. And Lance said he thought, you know, prior to this shift in reporting, he thought the NYPD was an agency that actually was transparent in reporting hate crimes

and actually did a good job of it. And he said, you know, it's his view that agencies that are good at reporting hate crimes, they tend to look like they have a lot of hate crimes happening in their, you know, jurisdictions. Okay, Ben, so going forward when New Yorkers see hate crime numbers from the NYPD, what should they keep in mind about how these figures are compiled? So another expert I spoke to Frank Pazella at Zhang Jaze College said that his biggest concern is that under this new reporting, it may look like there was going to be a big drop in hate crimes compared to the same period last year. If we look at the numbers that they report found to be a hate crime and compare them to the numbers that were previously reported that included those suspected of being a hate crime, obviously there's going to be a precipitous drop. it would be erroneous to consider that that's a drop in hate crimes.

And then interestingly, everyone I spoke to didn't necessarily have a problem with the NYPD separating the data into the hate crimes that they have confirmed. But all of them said they wish that the department would publish both those reported and then those confirmed by the NYPD. And they said that publishing both those figures adds a lot of context about what is happening in the city and it may shed some light on. on how the OIPD investigates these crimes. And to just strip that away was a big shift in the reporting process in the city.

You know, you mentioned an increase in both anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish hate crimes. Can we just take a brief moment to talk about what's fueling this hate? Yeah, so everybody I spoke to basically said that things, the conflict in the Middle East is absolutely going to have an effect in the city and across the U.S. I guess to what extent that could drive hate crime may be disputed. One person I talked to a Columbia professor said that you're not going to see the number of hate crimes double because of the conflict in the Middle East. All three of the people I spoke to certainly said, you know, it's going to have an effect. Like what happens overseas has an effect on what's happening in the city. Ben, do you listen to Stephen Wonder?

Not so much recently, but yes, yes, I listened to Stevie Wonder in my youth. I was just thinking, you know, we're talking about hate crimes. and Stevie has this song that I absolutely love, and it's called Loves in Need of Love Today. Can't help but think about it. I'll go back and listen. Yeah, that's WMYC's Ben Fewer Hurd. Thanks a lot, Ben.

Thanks. Before we go, we wanted to let you know that after our reporting, City Council Speaker Julie Minning questioned police commissioner Jessica Tisch about the change at a council hearing. Tisch defended the decision to change the reporting method. She said reporting hate crimes that are still under review made no sense, and quote, was not a reflection of any reality, end quote. Thanks for listening to NYC Now.

I'm Jenae Pierre. See you next time.