Allies of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the state Legislature have introduced a proposal that would empower New York City to levy an additional 25% surcharge on corporate tax liability, a move that would significantly expand the city’s authority to raise revenue from businesses.
The legislation reflects the Democratic socialist mayor’s broader push to increase taxes on corporations and high earners to fund a series of costly initiatives promised during the 2025 campaign.
“This legislation would authorize New York City to charge a surcharge on corporate taxes, allowing the city to increase its corporate taxes should the mayor and City Council deem this necessary and appropriate,” said Assemblywoman Diana Moreno and Sen. Kristen Gonzalez in a memo summarizing their legislation.
Moreno, who is also aligned with the Democratic Socialists, succeeded Mamdani in representing Astoria in the Assembly after he vacated the seat to assume the mayoralty.
Gonzalez represents areas that include western Queens, parts of northern Brooklyn and Manhattan’s East Side.
“Revenues generated from a corporate tax could contribute to addressing the affordability crisis and strong public services for residents of the city,” the lawmakers said.
The bill summary, however, does not estimate how much additional revenue the surcharge might produce, instead noting that the fiscal impact is “to be determined.”
Mamdani has indicated that his preference is for Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Legislature to raise taxes at the state level—either by increasing the income tax on millionaires or boosting the corporate tax rate—to help close a multibillion-dollar shortfall in his proposed budget and bankroll his policy agenda. He has described a 9.5% property tax increase as a last-resort option, one that appears to lack sufficient support in the City Council.
“New York City is home to dozens of Fortune 500 companies. Yet, for corporations with over $5 million in annual profits, the corporate tax rate is only 7.25%, significantly lower than neighboring states like New Jersey, which is set at 11.5%,” the lawmakers said.
Business advocates dispute that comparison, arguing that it does not account for additional levies already imposed on companies operating in the city.
They note that when other charges, including an MTA corporate surcharge, are factored in, the city’s highest combined marginal corporate income tax rate currently stands at 17.44%, exceeding New Jersey’s rate. Under Mamdani’s proposed increase, they contend, that figure would climb to 22.48%.
“I don’t think the tax conversation is productive because we are going to be 100% higher than New Jersey if we take that proposal,” Steve Fulop, the new CEO of the Partnership for The City of New York, said last week on 77 WABC’s “The Cats Roundtable” program.
“New Jersey’s current corporate tax rate is 11%. If we do what the mayor has recommended, will be at 22% — 100% over New Jersey,” he said during his appearance. “People don’t have to move to Texas or Florida. They can just move a mile away, which is a real risk for the economy here in New York.
“People want to be in New York, but you have to have an economy that’s competitive. We’re getting close to a place that it isn’t,” he said.
Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, also urged restraint, arguing that the focus should be on reducing spending rather than increasing taxes.
“Raising taxes makes New York even more expensive for people we want to come and stay here, people whose taxes support our teachers, cops, libraries, health services and more of what we all need,” Citizens Budget Commission president Andrew Rein said last week.
“New York and its localities are already top of the charts — collecting more taxes per person than anywhere else in the nation.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is running for re-election to a second term, has said she does not support broad-based tax increases this year. Still, observers note that it remains unclear whether she would maintain that position if faced with pressure from members of her own party after the November elections.
Hochul is being challenged by Republican Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.
{Matzav.com}
In a moment that has left many shaken and reflective, fragments from the Iranian missile that fell Sunday in a shelter adjacent to a beis haknesses in Beit Shemesh struck one of the Sifrei Torah, landing precisely in Parshas Zachor, the very parsha that Klal Yisroel read just this past Shabbos.
The parsha, which reminds us of the eternal battle against Amalek and resonates so powerfully with the story of the Megillah, carries profound relevance in these days, as we face a modern-day Persia — Iran. That the shrapnel found its way specifically to those words seemed, to many, far beyond coincidence.
Misplallelim in the beis haknesses stood in stunned silence when they discovered where the fragments had pierced. The sight of the damaged Sefer Torah, struck in the very section commanding us to remember Amalek, was viewed by many as a stirring remez min haShamayim — a call to introspection, teshuvah, and strengthened emunah.
In days when missiles fly and sirens wail, this remarkable occurrence has left the community contemplating the clear and present message: that even amid the noise of war, the Ribbono Shel Olam speaks — sometimes in ways that pierce straight to the heart of the parsha.
{Matzav.com}
President Trump said Monday that he is not ruling out deploying American ground forces to Iran if circumstances require it, while asserting that the ongoing military campaign has progressed faster than anticipated, including the elimination of dozens of senior Iranian leaders.
In an interview with The New York Post, Trump addressed the possibility of sending troops, distancing himself from blanket pledges often made by other presidents. “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump said after launching strikes Saturday to decapitate Iran’s military and political leadership. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary.’”
The president had told the Daily Mail on Sunday that he expected the conflict to last “four weeks or so,” but on Monday he suggested the timeline could be shorter than initially projected.
“It’s going to go pretty quickly,” he said. “We’re right on schedule, way ahead of schedule in terms of leadership — 49 killed — and that was, you know, going to take, we figured, at least four weeks, and we did it in one day.”
Trump also dismissed concerns that Iran might respond to the US action through terrorist attacks.
“We’ll take it out. Whatever. It’s like everything else, we’ll take it out,” Trump said.
Explaining his decision-making process, the president said he authorized the strike following what he described as unsuccessful final negotiations held Thursday in Geneva, citing intelligence indicating that Iran had resumed covert nuclear activity.
“We had very serious negotiations, and they were there, and then they pulled back,” he said.
“They wanted to make a nuclear weapon, so we destroyed them completely, but we found they were in a totally different site — totally different — because the sites that we took out were permanent. They tried to use them, but they were totally, as I said correctly before, obliterated, right? So then we found them working on a totally different area, a totally different site, in order to make a nuclear weapon through enrichment — so it was just time.”
“I said, ‘Let’s go.’”
Trump maintained that he is confident he made the correct call and argued that most Americans ultimately back the action, even if early polling suggests otherwise. He contended that preventing what he called “crazy people” from acquiring nuclear weapons outweighed the risks of a broader regional conflict.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey conducted over the weekend found that 27% of respondents supported the strikes, while 43% opposed them and 29% were undecided. Surveys taken before the operation indicated similarly limited backing for a potential war.
“I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” Trump said.
“I don’t think the polling is low,” he went on. “Look, whether polling is low or not, I think the polling is probably fine. But it’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon.
“I think people are very impressed with what is happening, actually,” Trump insisted. “I think it’s a silent — if you did a real poll, the silent poll — and it’s like a silent majority.”
{Matzav.com}
Three American F-15 fighter jets participating in operations linked to the campaign against Iran were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in a friendly fire incident, US Central Command confirmed early Monday.
According to a statement from CENTCOM, all six crew members aboard the aircraft successfully ejected and were recovered in stable condition.
“Kuwait has acknowledged this incident, and we are grateful for the efforts of the Kuwaiti defense forces and their support in this ongoing operation,” Tampa, Fla.-based CENTCOM went on.
Video circulating online captured the dramatic crashes, which occurred shortly after what appeared to be an Iranian drone barrage struck the US Embassy compound in Kuwait City. Earlier, the embassy had issued a stark advisory to American citizens, instructing them to stay indoors, seek shelter, and “Do not come to the Embassy.”
Footage showed flames and heavy smoke billowing from within the diplomatic compound, though no immediate casualties were reported.
Kuwait, along with several other Gulf states neighboring Iran, has come under missile and drone fire from Tehran in recent days. The strikes appear aimed at pressuring the United States and Israel to halt a military campaign that has reportedly resulted in the deaths of dozens of senior Iranian officials, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Over the weekend, three US service members stationed in Kuwait with a logistics and supply unit were killed in an Iranian strike. They were the first American fatalities since the Pentagon launched the operation known as Operation Epic Fury.
CENTCOM said it would withhold the identities of service members who were killed until 24 hours after their families were notified.
Iranian retaliatory strikes have also targeted American military installations in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. In addition to military targets, Tehran has directed attacks toward energy infrastructure across the region.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery was targeted by drones, according to a military spokesman quoted by the state-run Saudi Press Agency. Air defenses intercepted the aircraft before they reached their objective.
Videos posted online appeared to show dense black smoke rising near the refinery site following the incident. Even when drones are successfully shot down, falling debris can ignite fires and cause injuries on the ground.
Ras Tanura, located near Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, is among the largest oil refineries in the world, with the capacity to process more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Saudi state television reported that operations at the facility were temporarily halted as a precaution.
Earlier the same day, falling debris from intercepted drones struck Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, according to the state-run KUNA news agency.
{Matzav.com}
