The clash between Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio over pre-K funding is turning into an all-out brawl, with allies of the governor claiming the mayor is pushing higher taxes to fund new contracts for his labor buddies, sources told The Post.
“We’re hearing chatter from people that de Blasio wants to raise the income tax on the rich to use it any way he wants — including paying for labor contracts and raises,” said a Democratic Party insider close to Cuomo.
“The people who are pushing this are from the Working Families Party. De Blasio is married to them.”
The Cuomo ally noted the WFP is basically run by the most leftist leaders in the labor movement — the Transport Workers Union, the Communication Workers of America and United Federation of Teachers, among others.
It’s the same coalition, the source familiar with Cuomo’s thinking said, that opposes the governor’s $2 billion proposal to cut property, business and estate taxes as he seeks re-election.
De Blasio is pushing to raise city income taxes on those earning $500,000 or more to generate $530 million a year to cover pre-kindergarten classes for all kids.
To head off a tax hike Albany would have to approve in an election year, Cuomo on Tuesday offered the mayor a deal he thought he couldn’t refuse — having the state pick up the tab.
But de Blasio did refuse.
He maintained that Cuomo’s offer of $2.2 billion statewide for five years was both inadequate and unreliable.
The mayor’s office insisted there’s no secret agenda for the added tax revenues.
“For more than a year, Mayor de Blasio has been 100 percent clear that this tax increase will only be used to fund pre-K and after-school programs for New York City kids. Anyone who says otherwise is just plain wrong, period,” said mayoral spokesman Phil Walzak.
De Blasio and his allies show no sign of backing down. A labor-backed “UPK coalition” met Friday and vowed to continue a campaign to push the mayor’s tax-the-rich initiative in open defiance of the governor, who opposes it.
Union leaders, including UFT chief Michael Mulgrew, are part of the coalition.
“They’re doing a campaign to support a tax hike. That’s crazy,” the source close to Cuomo said.
“People are calling us and saying, ‘What is this guy’s problem?’ How does he have the gall to tell the governor and the Legislature in an election year to raise taxes?” the source added.
Late Friday, de Blasio allies added more ammunition to their arguments.
They circulated a report by the Albany-based Schuyler Center that concluded Cuomo’s funding was “insufficient to achieve high-quality, full-day, universal pre-K.”
Republican state senators are preparing to grill de Blasio about the tax hike on Monday, when he travels to Albany to testify during a joint legislative budget hearing.
After seeing Cuomo’s pre-K plan, even some Democrats from the city say they are less inclined to align themselves with de Blasio.
“I think the governor’s plan is adequate,” said Assemblyman Matthew Titone (D-Staten Island). “The ball is in de Blasio’s court.”