this post was submitted on 04 Nov 2025
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President backs Cuomo in election eve Truth Social post as Mamdani hits back at Trump’s ‘threat – it is not the law’

On the eve of New York’s well-watched mayoral election, Donald Trump issued a threat to its voters: stop Zohran Mamdani or pay.

“If Communist Candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the Election for Mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing Federal Funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “I don’t want to send, as President, good money after bad.”

Trump’s comments echo those broadcast on Sunday during his appearance on CBS’s 60 minutes, in which he said: “It’s gonna be hard for me as the president to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you’re sending there.”

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[–] altkey@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

I may be wrong, but isn't NYC more of a money generator than it's a receiver? If that's so, I don't see how NYC would suffer, but it would widen the divide between such areas and poor dotational ones, making their people possible maga recruits.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

There is still a system in place where states contribute their federal taxes before that revenue is used for whatever we have budgeted. A state doesn't take "their share" first, and states depend on federal funding for a lot of projects and services.

That said, a state with large surpluses can probably write policies to use their state taxes to pay for federal programs that people want to keep, but that's a snarled-up and anti-american system, the taxes are supposed to be used for the people, not be used like a cudgel to enforce political partisanship. There would be a lot of courts who would challenge this, which still might go in Trump's favor because of his corruption of the judicial branch, but that's a LOT of work and expense for something that isn't going to actually get the administration anything but ire from the citizens of one of the ~~country's~~ world's largest, most prominent cities.

Largely, this is as usual, a massive pile of bullshit meant to fit into a right-wing news site's headline ticker, because people largely don't read stories, they just read headlines and don't question it. This kind of rhetoric has always been about making his most powerful asset, his ludicrously stupid and armed and fanatical base feel like he's still big strong daddy choking everyone.

[–] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

i think people are still expected to pay federal taxes. even if trump blocked funds.

[–] BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

I'm not sure how all the recent tax changes will effect this either.

[–] SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 hours ago

Like King George did? How did that work out?

[–] ABetterTomorrow@sh.itjust.works 23 points 3 hours ago

lol NY doesn’t need “his” funds. Trump needs NY funds though.

[–] Gates9@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Communism is a failure that we cannot allow to prosper!

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 points 20 minutes ago (1 children)
  1. Capitalism is also a failure. Choose one.

  2. Mamdani is not a communist, but a socialist. There's a difference, and even though you can apparently be the President without knowing that, it's worth being clear about it.

[–] nednobbins@lemmy.zip 3 points 16 minutes ago

I'm fairly certain Gates9 just forgot the /s.

[–] ameancow@lemmy.world 1 points 32 seconds ago

I've learned the hard way that in the current online world, especially on sites like Lemmy for reasons, people cannot detect sarcasm unless you use those horrible, tone-ruining tags. It's one of the many things they've taken from us.

[–] lilmookieesquire@lemmy.today 29 points 6 hours ago

I really can’t think of higher praise.

[–] santa@sh.itjust.works 73 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Other states should protest by withholding taxes, as well. United, yes?

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 23 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (2 children)

That's not really how it works - there's no one big sack of cash that gets handed over by the state, individual businesses (and people) pay their taxes to the IRS directly, and then separately to the state tax agencies (obvs leaving out some of the draconian nuance here). States don't have a practical method of withholding taxes short of going to every business and demanding they stop paying the feds. While hypothetically possible at some point, it's not in the short term feasible.

[–] witten@lemmy.world 19 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

There is a big sack of cash that gets handed over by the state: the federal payroll taxes for all the state government employees.

[–] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 7 points 7 hours ago (3 children)

I disagree. I think having everyone send their federal taxes to a state entity for leverage purposes would be an interesting development. The individual is protected, and the state holds the bag.

[–] Warl0k3@lemmy.world 1 points 4 minutes ago

I'm confused, sorry: what are you disagreeing with?

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

How would the individual be protected from the IRS if they are penalized by the IRS for non-payment of taxes. Just because you sent a check to some state entity doesn’t mean those federal taxes have been paid, and that state entity likely wouldn’t have the authority or resources to protect you from the IRS.

It would be kind of like sending your mortgage payment to your lawyer when you have a dispute with your bank. You still owe that money to the bank, and they can take action for non-payment.

[–] Natanael 3 points 2 hours ago

Some jurisdictions allow escrow payment when in a legal conflict, in which case you actually might be sending money to your lawyer instead

... Probably doesn't apply for US taxes, but it's a thing

[–] theneverfox@pawb.social 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It would be kind of like sending your mortgage payment to your lawyer when you have a dispute with your bank. You still owe that money to the bank, and they can take action for non-payment.

Well, kinda. But in this example, you've put the money in escrow, which gives you protection while everything plays out in court

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 2 points 47 minutes ago

But you as an individual won’t be suing the IRS so escrow makes no sense in this case.

[–] BakerBagel@midwest.social 1 points 2 hours ago

Damn, looks like Trump shouldn't have slasher the IRS budget and fired all their auditors.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago

That seems like a trivial position to take.

[–] pineapple_pizza@lemmy.dexlit.xyz 8 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

Tbh one of my main takeaways from this presidency is that states send too much money to the federal gov and have to ask for it back. It feels like having more local control of how these dollars are spent would maybe even be bi partisan.

[–] Barbarian@sh.itjust.works 6 points 7 hours ago

It is not bipartisan. The countries that take more than they send (primarily Republican states, I'm led to believe) would absolutely refuse.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

In the past our federal government has always been more competent and less corrupt at the federal level than the state level. That only changed this year.

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[–] TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip 74 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Good thing it is legal for Trump and only Trump to meddle in elections. Yay.

[–] bear@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 8 hours ago

This seems the require a better descriptor. Extorting an election.

[–] Donjuanme@lemmy.world 48 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

How the fuck...

When the ever loving fuck are people going to wake up and remember their government/civics lessons??

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 18 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Those teach how things are supposed to work, not what to do when things don't work as they should. I'm willing to wager no government willingly teaches people how to coerce it into working for them, but at least America definitely doesn't.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 4 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Which is incredibly ironic for a company founded by terrorists (from the British perspective) who engaged in exactly that coercion.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 93 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

I'd love to see NYC set up a voluntary escrow account for federal taxes.

You don't have to pay shit till taxes are due, have NYC sit on their withholdings and trump won't be able to build any ballrooms.

[–] ElectricWaterfall@lemmy.zip 12 points 9 hours ago (3 children)

The problem is employers take taxes directly out of paychecks and send directly to the federal government.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

....

Those are called "withholdings" and you pick what they are on your W4...

And honestly everyone should know that, literally every legal job in America you fill out a W4...

[–] agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works 12 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Pretty sure they don't have to, you can opt out and pay the full bill come tax day. That would certainly put sand in the gears.

[–] pineapple_pizza@lemmy.dexlit.xyz 6 points 8 hours ago (4 children)

You have to pay quarterly if your withholding doesn't match you tax burdon. That's oversimplified but in general you cannot wait till tax day or else everyone would. You would just self withhold, leave the cash in a safe money market fund and make 4% on it till tax day.

[–] acchariya@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Illegal if a few thousand people do it, but defacto legal if a few million people do it.

We need a 2025 word for illegal things getting a pass due to systemic chaos in the same way we had truthyness in the early 2000s. I propose "derelegal" to mean technically illegal but unenforced due to systemic chaos or legal rot.

[–] Septimaeus 3 points 5 hours ago

If withholding doesn’t match tax burden

AND difference exceeds the $1500 quarterly buffer. That is, you only owe penalties if your withholding is more-than-a-little off in your favor.

I mention that because it’s an important detail for a useful tip re: filling w-4s. Since the withholding percentage is just an estimate based on that form, including the number of allowances you specify, it’s usually a good idea to “tune” that number to prevent over-withholding and, preferably, err somewhat in your favor.

It’s better to owe taxes on your return. If the IRS owes you, it means you inadvertently gave them an interest-free loan last year.

[–] Almacca@aussie.zone 6 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Who cares? Do it anyway. The law doesn't fucking matter any more.

[–] Serinus@lemmy.world 9 points 7 hours ago

It does for us plebs.

An in-group that the law protects but does not bind, and an out-group that the law binds but does not protect.

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[–] witten@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

One rather large employer in each state is the state government...

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 21 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

At this point there's little reason for blue states to remain. The US federal government is too far gone to fix and the kinds of ass wipe Democrats who would get elected certainly are going to do anything like expanding the Supreme Court or her tailing the power of the president so we might as well start from scratch

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 1 points 33 minutes ago

I think food and having belligerent neighbors might be a problem.

[–] rockettaco37@feddit.nu 13 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

As somebody originally from New York State, I firmly believe that we could render the Federal government irrelevant simply through economic means alone

[–] fluffykittycat@slrpnk.net 8 points 9 hours ago

Actually, given how America works the only thing that would be necessary to completely destroy the federal government would be to have 40 senators, easily achievable, refuse to pass a budget. As we've seen without a budget everything grinds to a halt and eventually the federal workers are going to leave for other jobs. This might have already happened by sharing competence and the need to suppress the Epstein files but you could do it intentionally if you so desired

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 7 points 10 hours ago

If Biden had an ounce of guts he would have started a shadow court with ethics rules and ignored the subprime court when it was clear they were off the rails.

[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world 11 points 10 hours ago

You have nothing to lose but your chains.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 17 points 11 hours ago

The second act begins.

[–] Hellotypewriter@retrolemmy.com 6 points 10 hours ago

The time to speak up is now. The place to do it is everywhere.

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