Gov. Cuomo is “not thrilled” with Bill de Blasio’s plan to hike income taxes on the city’s high-income earners to finance pre-K programs, an insider told The Post.
De Blasio’s education plan would increase taxes on residents making more than $500,000 — but it has to be approved by the Legislature and governor in Albany at a challenging time.
Cuomo and all 211 state legislators are up for re-election next year, when the hike would be sought.
At an event in Montauk, LI, Thursday, Cuomo was noncommittal when asked about de Blasio’s proposal, a key part of his campaign platform.
“Campaign plans often come down to bumper stickers,” Cuomo said. “And I’ll be curious to find out exactly what the real plans are, and once we have a real discussion, then I’ll have an opinion.”
Cuomo is on good terms with both de Blasio and Bill Thompson, who came in second in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for mayor. De Blasio worked for Cuomo when the governor was the federal housing chief under President Clinton.
But a source told The Post that doesn’t mean that Cuomo is on board with all of de Blasio’s proposals, singling out his tax-the-rich pitch as particularly problematic.
The insider said Cuomo is “not thrilled” about it.
The source also said it’s unlikely Cuomo will intervene in the debate over whether Thompson should concede and allow de Blasio to become the Democratic nominee for mayor without a runoff.
De Blasio was at 40.3 percent in the unofficial and incomplete tally. Thompson came in second with 26 percent and has said he has an “obligation” to stay in until there’s a final, official result.
In fact, lawyers for the Thompson campaign on Thursday demanded that the Campaign Finance Board release $463,111 of his expected runoff funding since roughly 78,000 paper and affidavit votes have yet to be counted.
The mayoral candidate huddled with his top backers Thursday night, including the United Federation of Teachers, to discuss how to move forward.
The consensus was that Thompson should wait out the recount rather than concede, even though prominent supporters like Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara have jumped ship.
Meanwhile, a visibly distraught Christine Quinn appeared to be fighting back tears as she fielded questions on her devastating loss Tuesday night.
“There’s plenty of time for postmortems and looking back and things like that, but I’m here today as speaker excited about the three pieces of legislation we’re passing,” Quinn said before a City Council meeting.
— Additional reporting by Sally Goldenberg