NYC mayoral candidates answer questions on taxes, affordability, spending

NEW YORK CITY - The Citizens Budget Commission's (CBC) new questionnaire sheds some light on the potential future spending habits of New York City's mayoral candidates.

All answers provided by the candidates were taken from their responses to the CBC’s 2025 New York City Mayoral Candidate Questionnaire.

NYC mayoral candidates

What we know:

SKIP TO: Services and operations | Education | Attracting residents and businesses | Taxes

Twelve candidates were sent the questionnaire – only New York City Mayor Eric Adams, City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and Senator Zellnor Myrie did not submit responses. The other candidates are as follows:

• Former Assemblymember Michael Blake
• Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
• New York City Comptroller Brad Lander
• Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani
• Senator Jessica Ramos (who just recently endorsed Cuomo)
• Curtis Sliwa
• Former New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer
• Whitney Tilson
• Jim Walden

A more comprehensive look at each candidate can be found here.

Questionnaire results

What they're saying:

Here are some of the subjects broached by the questionnaire.

Efficiency and quality of NYC's services and operations:

A majority of the candidates rated the efficiency of NYC's services and operations from fair to poor, with only Jim Walden rating the efficiency as "good" – Mamdani, Sliwa and Tilson were the three to rate the services and operations as "poor." 

In comparison, none of the candidates rates the quality of these services as "poor," with Stringer and Blake going so far as to label them "good" (the other candidates all settled on "fair").

The variation of answers was far greater when the candidates were asked which two major agencies offer significant opportunity to improve said efficiency.

Blake and Ramos highlighted NYCHA (NYC Housing Authority) as one of their two chosen agencies; Blake, Mamdani and Sliwa pointed to education.

Education spending:

While on the subject of education, only one candidate argued against the concept that increasing public school per-student spending would increase achievement: Curtis Sliwa.

"Results come from better leadership, not blank checks."

Tilson did not commit to a yes or no answer: "Higher per-pupil spending generally does not increase achievement, but I want to invest in certain areas, such as expanding 3-K and reading tutors in elementary schools, for struggling children."

All seven other candidates agreed with the idea that an increase in per-student spending would lead to higher achievement rates.

NYC's capability of attracting residents:

Every candidate who participated in the questionnaire agreed that public safety and housing affordability were the two most pressing issues regarding attracting new residents and businesses.

When asked to choose a third factor, the candidates began to diverge in perspective. Lander, Ramos, Stringer, Tilson and Walden concurred that the city's quality of education offered is an obstacle to attracting newcomers.

Sliwa cited high taxes as his suspected issue, while Mamdani zeroed in on childcare, or more accurately, a lack of affordable childcare options.

Cuomo and Blake settled on similar matters, with Blake attributing the issue to the cost of living overall, while Cuomo pointed to "quality of life write large" as the issue.

Taxes

All candidates involved said they would keep the city's sales tax as it is currently – answers diverged in regard to personal income taxes and property taxes.

Ramos and Mamdani would increase the personal income tax of New Yorkers, while Cuomo and Sliwa would decrease them, with the other candidates saying they would keep them the same.

Walden, Cuomo and Sliwa would decrease the property tax rate, while Blake would increase it – most other candidates would keep the rate as it is now, except for Ramos, who did not provide an answer.

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