Mamdani’s $70M City-Run Grocery Plan Ripped, Experts Say Taxpayers Will Pay Twice

Antoni’s criticism goes to the heart of the dispute: whether shoppers are actually saving money or merely paying for those discounts somewhere else through taxes.

Adam Lehodey, a policy analyst at the Manhattan Institute, offered a similarly skeptical assessment.

“The 30% savings that Mamdani announced on his government-owned stores are an illusion. Taxpayers will foot the bill for millions of dollars in subsidies, and they will operate on government-owned land with rents waived. New Yorkers will still be paying the full price, just indirectly,” Lehodey said.

“Pricing goods significantly below market price creates an additional problem of people purchasing them to resell elsewhere. Shortages are also likely as people buy more than they otherwise would due to artificially low prices,” Lehodey said.

That immediately raised the possibility that taxpayers could effectively be charged twice — first to establish and subsidize Mamdani’s municipal supermarkets and then again to help privately owned grocers withstand competition from those government-backed stores.

EDC subsequently walked back the suggestion that grants were being considered, telling Fox News Digital that the city’s Grocery Task Force “is not currently considering any grant programs for existing grocers.”

But questions remain about the long-term price tag.

The $70 million currently committed covers the five planned locations, but the administration has not publicly provided an estimate for how much ongoing subsidies could ultimately cost taxpayers if the stores consistently sell groceries substantially below prevailing market prices.

That uncertainty is likely to fuel an already heated debate over Mamdani’s democratic socialist approach to affordability.

The mayor argues New Yorkers struggling with soaring food costs need alternatives and that removing expenses such as commercial rent can translate into meaningful savings at checkout.