New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie endorsed Zohran Mamdani, the socialist candidate who has led the mayoral field, on Wednesday and signaled that he would use his influence in Albany to back Mamdani’s agenda, including no-cost child care and free bus service. Heastie said he would back the full set of Mamdani’s proposals and suggested that millionaire taxes poll extremely well.
Heastie stressed that the Assembly is only one leg of a three-part process and any tax increases would need approval from the state Senate and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Mamdani's plan would impose a 2% income tax on New York City residents earning more than $1 million and raise the corporate tax from 7.25% to 11.5%, matching New Jersey, aiming to raise about $10 billion for universal programs such as no-cost child care and free buses.
Hochul has endorsed Mamdani but opposes broad wealth or corporate tax hikes, arguing they could drive high earners out of New York. She has said she does not want to lose more residents to Palm Beach.
Critics say the plan depends on Albany support that may not materialize. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrew Stewart-Cousins have supported tax increases on the wealthy but in more incremental terms. In 2021, Heastie, Hochul, and Stewart-Cousins worked with then-Gov. Cuomo to raise the top rate for residents earning $25 million or more from 8.82% to 10.8%. The hike was sunset in 2026 but was extended in the latest budget, and leaders did not widely trumpet the extension as part of a broader wealth-tax push.
Mamdani previously signed a letter in 2021 urging Heastie to go further on taxing the ultra-wealthy, but the effort failed. Mamdani on Wednesday said the best way to fund his promises would be to tax corporations and the rich, or pursue other revenues, as long as the funding priorities are preserved.
Even with Heastie’s endorsement, the path to enacting his taxes would face significant obstacles in Albany, where Gov. Hochul remains wary of large-scale wealth taxes. The endorsement does, however, illustrate the ongoing clash over wealth taxes and the role of the Legislature in pushing progressive reforms in a state with a history of hesitant acceptance of broad tax hikes.
