In 1993, a commission convened under Mayor David Dinkins reached a blunt conclusion that New York City’s property tax system, “not only appears unfair, it is unfair.” The commission found a structure that favored higher-income property owners while burdening middle-class and Black and brown homeowners, particularly in the outer boroughs.
More than three decades later, that injustice remains largely intact.
Successive mayors have acknowledged the problem. Each promised reform. None delivered. Property tax reform became a political third rail—too risky to touch and convenient to defer.
That history is what makes the current moment so consequential.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani revived the prospect of reform, pledging to finally fix a broken system. His budget director, Sherif Soliman—who previously served on Mayor de Blasio’s advisory commission—promised legislation in Albany. For homeowners long overburdened by inequity, that pledge initially sounded like overdue relief.
But then came the mayor’s threat: a 9.5 percent property tax increase to close a projected $5.4 billion deficit if Albany refuses to raise taxes on the wealthy.
Let’s be clear. Proposing a property tax hike within a system everyone agrees is broken—while knowing it will disproportionately harm middle-income, Black, and brown homeowners—is not reform. It is leverage. And using people’s homes as leverage is a line no responsible leader should cross.
This approach is especially troubling because it ignores political reality. Long before this budget proposal surfaced, there were unmistakable signals from Albany that sweeping tax increases would not pass. Governor Kathy Hochul has made her position very clear. A serious executive would have adjusted course—restraining spending growth, auditing agencies, and pursuing revenue options that did not place homeowners at risk.
Instead, the mayor chose confrontation over calibration.
The consequences fall hardest on Black New Yorkers. Homeownership remains one of the most powerful tools for closing the racial wealth gap. National data show Black household net worth increased significantly between 2019 and 2022, with housing accounting for nearly 44 percent of that wealth—the highest share in over a century. Yet Black homeownership in New York City has declined by more than 13 percent since 2000, even as families leave the city seeking affordability and stability.
Meanwhile, the number of cost-burdened households has continued to rise, according to the Furman Center. Insurance premiums, energy costs, and basic necessities are already climbing. To dangle a tax increase over homeowners in this environment is not just bad policy—it is destabilizing and demoralizing.
Layered onto this is an unmistakable ideological signal. The mayor’s decision to elevate tenant activist Cea Weaver, who once described homeownership as a “weapon of white supremacy,” to a senior role at City Hall raises serious concerns. When that worldview is paired with a threatened property tax hike, homeowners are justified in asking whether they are viewed as stakeholders—or obstacles.
There are other paths available. The city’s budget gap has already narrowed from earlier projections due to stronger Wall Street revenue, improved tax collections, reserves, and savings. Responsible leadership means exhausting those tools first. It means protecting long-term homeowners, strengthening exemptions for nonprofits and houses of worship, and pursuing reform without inflicting collateral damage.
Encouragingly, leaders such as Council Speaker Julie Menin and Queens Borough President Donovan Richards have publicly rejected property tax hikes. They understand what is at stake.
Homes are not chess pieces. They are the foundation of family stability, community continuity, and generational opportunity. No mayor—progressive or otherwise—should govern by threatening them.
New York City does not need political theater. It needs leadership disciplined enough to tell the truth, humble enough to work within reality, and courageous enough to protect all its people while still pursuing reform.
Reverend Reginald Lee Bachus is Associate Pastor of the landmark Abyssinian Baptist Church in the City of New York
