NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) — Mayor Zohran Mamdani wants to slash New York state’s estate tax exemption threshold by almost 90%, from a more than $7 million limit to $750,000, and raise the top estate tax rate from 16% to 50%.
The proposal was included among nearly a dozen potential revenue-raising ideas Mamdani’s office circulated in a memo in recent weeks to state lawmakers negotiating the state budget. Mamdani is facing a $5.4 billion city budget deficit for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and is seeking help from the state legislature in raising money to close the gap.
There’s little likelihood the proposed change will be enacted this year. Neither house of the legislature, nor Governor Kathy Hochul’s office, included the proposal in their respective budget plans, even though both the Senate and Assembly proposed income and corporate tax increases in budget recommendations they approved this week…