Instead of taxing the rich, Mayor Zohran Mamdani might want to fill NYC’s projected $5.4 billion budget gap by simply collecting unpaid taxes and fines from deadbeats.
As of June 30, the city was sitting on an unprecedented $5.35 billion in uncollected property taxes dating back a decade — a startling figure buried in a 535-page report released in October by then-Comptroller and fellow socialist Brad Lander.
That’s almost the exact amount Mamdani claims he needs to fill the massive budget hole while he continues threatening to slam Gotham with a nearly 10% property tax hike — unless Gov. Kathy Hochul and Albany pols cave to his “tax the rich” scheme.
The city has also been unable to collect another $1.3 billion in Environmental Control Board fines usually issued for construction, zoning, and safety code violations…