Policy
NYC Council members to Hochul: Tax the rich (corporations)
Progressive New York City Council members are backing the state Legislature’s push to raise the city’s corporate tax rate.
New York City Council Member Alexa Avilés speaks at a Tax the Rich rally on Nov. 16, 2025. Jeff Coltin
As Gov. Kathy Hochul and state legislative leaders prepare to debate potential tax increases in this year’s state budget, Democrats in the New York City Council are sending a message to the governor: New York City needs a higher corporate tax rate.
“Increasing the tax on corporations in New York City will allow our city to pay for the crucial services New Yorkers rely on for their health, safety, and well-being. New York’s most profitable corporations should pay what they owe to our city and state,” the council members wrote in a letter sent to Hochul, state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Tuesday. The legislative leaders have backed part of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s campaign proposal to raise revenue by increasing city tax rates on large corporations.
The letter was spearheaded by City Council Member Alexa Avilés, a vice chair of the Council Progressive Caucus, and signed by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and 20 more council members: Shirley Aldebol, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Tiffany Cabán, Carmen De La Rosa, Elsie Encarnacion, Harvey Epstein, Amanda Farías, Jennifer Gutiérrez, Shahana Hanif, Crystal Hudson, Rita Joseph, Farah Louis, Chris Marte, Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé, Justin Sanchez, Pierina Sanchez, Kayla Santosuosso, Althea Stevens and Julie Won.
While the City Council controls New York City property tax rates, only the state Legislature has the power to raise income and corporate tax rates. The letter calls on state leaders to increase the New York City tax rate from 9% to 10.8% for financial corporations, from 8.85% to 10.62% for non-financial corporations and from 4% to 4.4% for unincorporated businesses with annual revenue over $5 million. According to the letter, those tweaks to the corporate tax rate would bring in an additional $1.75 billion in revenue for the city.
Mamdani has proposed identical bumps to the city’s corporate tax rates, and both the state Senate and Assembly included those tax increases in their one-house budget proposals. But Hochul did not include any tax increases in her executive budget proposal. In the face of Mamdani and his supporters’ demands to “tax the rich,” the governor has steadfastly refused to raise income taxes, though she seems more willing to consider a corporate tax hike.
Read the full letter from the City Council members below: