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Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerry Baker has warned that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push to raise taxes on the wealthy will be “disastrous” as the Democratic Socialist clashes with state leaders over getting approval for his tax plan.
“This is a social act, it’s the Democratic Party working and the whole country is watching,” he told Fox News on Wednesday.
Baker’s comments to “America Reports” came after Mamdani renewed his calls to raise taxes on high earners, a sentiment strongly opposed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“What we expect, what we will spend every day looking at, is to work with Albany to increase taxes on the richest and most profitable companies so that the financial crisis is not solved behind New York’s middle-class workers,” said Mamdani.
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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, left, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Alejandro Granadillo/AP)
Baker noted that the Democratic power struggle between Mamdani and Hochul will not work for the mayor if he wants his plans to succeed, as his tax proposal needs his approval at the federal level.
“He does not have the option of raising taxes without the permission of the manager,” he said. “So, he’s going to try to do it in other ways, to raise property taxes.”
Mamdani issued an announcement in Hochul on Tuesday, vowing to raise property taxes by nearly 10% if he fails to match his income tax hike on the wealthy.
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Also on Tuesday, Mamdani proposed a budget for 2027 New York City, which is more than double the budget of the state of Pennsylvania, despite the fact that New York City has about half the population.
New York City has $127 billion for its 8.4 million people, and the entire state of Pennsylvania with 13 million people has $53.2 billion.
In front of a painting of Alexander Hamilton, Mayor Zohran Mamdani talks to reporters about the city’s finances during a news conference in New York, Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026. (Photo by Seth Wenig/AP)
“They’ll say, ‘New York City is higher, it’s more expensive. Everything is more expensive here, the workforce is bigger, the wages are higher. So, it’s understandable that the costs in New York are going to be a little bit higher.’ But there is no reason for that,” said Baker
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Baker said the Socialist Mayor’s tax plan will not protect the middle class people they claim to be helping.
“The program he has will affect, not only the wealthy as they keep submitting their applications, but a lot of middle-class taxpayers,” he said.
The WSJ editor also predicted a mass exodus from New York City as Mamdani’s tax cap increases moved closer to becoming a reality.
“The idea that that will be good for the city, that it will be good for people to be taxed more than they are, is crazy,” said Baker. “It means that more people will leave the city than what they have already done.“
The sun sets over midtown Manhattan and the Empire State Building in New York City on Nov. 15, 2024. (Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
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Baker said Hochul has his own left-leaning leanings in his New York Democratic tenure but wonders if Mamdani’s exuberance will sing too much.
“We will see if Kathy Hochul, who wants her own form of limited socialism … whether her limited form is able to overcome the zeal of Zohran Mamdani,” he said.
