![\"man](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/368AB02E-F321-4648-A4EA-D98DB92E0F04.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Former Gov. and mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters before voting in the Democratic primary. Tuesday, June 24, 2025.<\/p>\n
Photo By Dean Moses<\/p>\n
Independent mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo<\/a> on Monday contended that Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani<\/a> is dreaming an impossible dream.<\/p>\n The former governor says the Queens assembly member\u2019s plan to get Albany on board with raising taxes on corporations and millionaires<\/a> is an \u201cimpossibility\u201d because lawmakers outside New York City will not support tax hikes only benefiting the five boroughs.<\/p>\n Cuomo, who served as governor for 11 years, sought to tear apart Mamdani\u2019s core proposed mechanism for funding his affordability-focused platform during a July 28 interview with WNYC\u2019s Brian Lehrer.<\/a> He argued that representatives for parts of the state outside the Big Apple would not support raising taxes statewide if their constituents would not benefit from it.<\/p>\n \u201cA Buffalo assemblyman or a Long Island senator is not going to raise taxes on their corporations to give the money to New York City,\u201d Cuomo told Lehrer. \u201cThat is not going to happen. Otherwise, it would be a former assemblyman from Buffalo and a former senator from Long Island. \u2026 It is an impossibility that a state legislature would raise statewide corporate taxes dedicated to only New York City.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo further charged that Mamdani\u2019s plan is dead on arrival, given that Gov. Kathy Hochul \u2014 who is running for reelection next year \u2014 has said she has no appetite to raise taxes,<\/a> even on corporations and the wealthy.<\/p>\n Monday was hardly the first time that Cuomo and Mamdani\u2019s other opponents have tried to poke holes in his proposal to boost the state\u2019s corporate tax rate to 11.5% and hike income taxes on those making over $1 million annually by 2%.<\/p>\n The democratic socialist has floated the increases as the central way to fund his key campaign promises, such as making city buses free and faster-moving, and implementing universal subsidized child care.<\/p>\n Cuomo \u2018stood in the way\u2019 of progress, Mamdani aide says<\/p>\n Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec argued Cuomo \u201cstood in the way\u201d when Mamdani and other state lawmakers pushed to raise taxes on the wealthy in 2021, although the former governor ultimately signed the hike into law.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get it twisted: Andrew Cuomo will stop at nothing to protect the billionaires and corporations making life more expensive for New Yorkers,\u201d Pekec said.\n<\/p>\n In response, Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said: \u201cThe governor proposed a millionaires tax in his 2021 budget amid the financial burdens of the pandemic and it was put and remains on the books. Mamdani\u2019s operation should get their facts right.\u201d<\/p>\n Cuomo, who resigned in 2021 amid sexual harassment claims that he denies, is mounting an underdog general election run against Mamdani after losing to the democratic socialist Assembly member by a wide margin in last month\u2019s primary. Also running against Mamdani are incumbent Mayor Eric Adams<\/a> \u2014 who is also on an independent line, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, and Jim Walden \u2014 an attorney also running as an independent.<\/p>\n Cuomo argues that while Mamdani\u2019s proposals sound good on paper, they will not work in practice.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe reason it\u2019s dangerous is because none of it happens, none of it works,\u201d the former governor said of Mamdani\u2019s proposals. \u201cThen you just disillusion the public, and more importantly, you made no progress; nothing will have happened.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSC_2923-1.jpg\" "\\"NYC")
Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell<\/p>\n