Mamdani Gains Key Ally In Push To Raise Taxes For Universal Child Care

NEW YORK — New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin said Wednesday that she will support a tax hike to fund universal child care during next year’s state budget process, putting her weight behind a proposal that Mayor Zohran Mamdani is also expected to pursue.

“A tax increase that goes to child care I think would be something that would be beneficial for the city because it will help to attract more workers here,” Menin said, calling for progressive taxation at POLITICO’s New York Outlook: Affordability, Industry & The Economy event Wednesday. “It helps to make sure that companies can be competitive and … could be a win for the city.”

Menin’s support for a tax hike to boost child care will further ratchet up pressure on Gov. Kathy Hochul — who’s running for reelection — ahead of next year’s legislative session in Albany. The governor has resisted calls from Mamdani and his progressive allies in the Legislature to increase taxes on the wealthy and corporations, although she did ultimately back a new pied-à-terre tax on pricey second homes in the city earlier this year.

Menin did not share specifics about what she would support in terms of tax hikes, noting that the policy details will need to arise from conversations between Mamdani and Hochul. The city is staring down a projected budget gap of more than $6 billion next fiscal year.

“We don't know yet where we are on this year’s budget,” Menin added. “There are some encouraging news from Wall Street that came out recently. We hope that that trend obviously continues. We want to keep businesses here, we want to attract new businesses to the city, we want to keep our economy as strong as possible.”

Hochul announced a plan earlier this year alongside Mamdani to provide funding for the first two years of the city’s inaugural free child care program for 2-year-olds, helping him make progress on a major campaign promise early in his tenure. But they have yet to indicate how they plan to pay for future years, as Mamdani aims to extend the program to all 2-year-olds by the end of his first term.

The mayor has continued to advocate for higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers ahead of the upcoming legislative session in Albany next year.

Spokespeople for City Hall and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Menin’s remarks.

The city launched 2,000 2-K seats this fall, and is planning to add an additional 10,000 seats by fall 2027.

Menin has clashed with Mamdani on several policy fronts, including a bill to provide $10,000 bonus payments to low-paid paraprofessional education workers, how to deliver expanded housing vouchers for low-income New Yorkers and whether 24-hour shifts should be prohibited for home health care workers.

But Menin’s expressed support is a sign that the speaker is aligning herself with Mamdani’s affordability-focused campaign. Universal child care, a cornerstone of that agenda, emerged as an area of common ground between Menin and Mamdani amid his mayoral victory.

The speaker said she hopes the city gets to universal child care by 2029, referring to child care bills the Council passed previously. She also cited a need for pay parity for providers, and added that funding “is going to be key” overall.

"We look forward to working with Governor Hochul and Albany on that because we are going to need additional funding to make universal child care a reality,” she said.

Mamdani previously projected that it would cost $6 billion annually to provide universal child care for children aged 6 weeks to 5 years old. But a recent report by the Center for New York City Affairs at The New School estimated that it could cost $9 billion annually.

Speaking later at Wednesday's POLITICO forum, City Comptroller Mark Levine also called on the state to consider tax increases next year, citing a need to address the deep municipal budget deficit on the horizon.

"Certainly an increase should be on the table for the year ahead in Albany," he said.

Menin and Levine are together with Mamdani and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the Big Apple's four citywide elected officials. Williams is also on board with tax hikes next year.

Steven Fulop, the head of the Partnership for New York City, a business group, acknowledged in his own forum appearance that calling for tax hikes on the rich is "politically popular."

"And I think you can get elected fairly easy pushing that," Fulop, the former mayor of Jersey City and a persistent Mamdani critic, said during POLITICO’s event on Wall Street.

But Fulop blasted Mamdani anyway for pursuing a tax-the-rich agenda, arguing it can result in an exodus of businesses from New York.

"Language matters from an administration, so I think you can have a chilling effect on business and people leaving when you position them as villains or bad people, and I think that that also is a scenario that’s not productive for job growth here,” he said.

Andrew Rein, head of the Citizens Budget Commission, a fiscal watchdog, argued at POLITICO’s event that publicly funded child care should be targeted to families with low incomes.

“Let’s focus on child care for those who need it the most,” Rein said. “Target the money to people who need it.”

“If we try to do too much, we’ll probably end up failing at that,” he added.

Grace Mausser, co-chair of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Mamdani’s political base, argued at the event that universal programs are more likely to be upheld over the long-term because a wider group of people come to rely on them, citing Social Security as an example.

They’re “more sustainable because they have a universal constituency,” she said. “If we think about things that have been cut over time, things like SNAP, they’re programs that were targeted at a very specific population.”

Janaki Chadha contributed to this report.