NEW YORK, N.Y. – Former Mayor Eric Adams took aim at his successor Zohran Mamdani on social media Wednesday, accusing him of misleading New Yorkers and pushing unsustainable spending after Mamdani announced plans to raise taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents to close a $12 billion budget gap.
In a post on X, Adams said Mamdani’s budget plan was a “laundry list of ‘free’ giveaways to buy votes,” arguing that the city’s new fiscal crisis was a direct result of poor financial management. “Now that the math doesn’t work, instead of owning the fact that he misled New Yorkers, he’s blaming me,” Adams wrote. “Let’s be clear: I left him over $8 BILLION in reserves.”
Adams, who has frequently clashed with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, defended his own record on fiscal restraint, saying those reserves were preserved only because he “ignored” Mamdani and others who pushed for more aggressive spending during the migrant crisis. “ ‘Free’ isn’t free. It’s just a bill someone else has to pay,” he said.
At City Hall earlier in the day, Mayor Mamdani unveiled his first budget plan since taking office, warning that New York City faces “a fiscal crisis at a scale greater than the Great Recession.” He said the city’s $12 billion shortfall required a combination of spending cuts and new revenue sources, including a two percent tax increase on millionaires and a higher corporate tax rate—rising to just over 22 percent.
• Mayor Mamdani proposes tax hikes on the wealthy to address $12 billion deficit
• Eric Adams accuses him of reckless spending and blames mismanagement for the shortfall
• Mamdani argues raising taxes is necessary to keep working families in New York
Mamdani said the move was necessary to protect city services and prevent further displacement of working-class residents struggling with high housing and living costs. “I am less concerned about a business exodus than an exodus of working people,” he said.
The escalating feud between the current and former mayors underscores deep divisions within New York’s Democratic leadership over how to balance progressive spending priorities with fiscal restraint—a conflict that could shape city politics for years to come.
