Democrats went easy on shoplifters instead of dealing with the theft epidemic during the 2023 legislative session, one liberal lawmaker who pushed for a crackdown admitted.

“There has to be a broad consensus. Not everyone is interested in creating tougher penalties,” moderate Democrat Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz told The Post.

The Bronx lawmaker proposed legislation that would have charged a shoplifter convicted of a second such crime within two years with a grand larceny in the fourth degree, a Class E felony that could be a bailable offense.

But the veteran lawmaker from Riverdale, who chairs the committee that oversees crime legislation, couldn’t muscle the bill through the Assembly and it also failed in the Senate.

He continued, “We have a serious shoplifting problem and I think we have to do more in that regard. It’s a real issue we should address,” Dinowitz added.

The Post last week reported that shoplifters are running so wild in the Big Apple that pints of high-end ice cream now have special locked lids to thwart cold-hearted crooks.

“It’s an insult to us. We have to wait another year for action. The legislators don’t want to touch the criminals. We need action now!,” fumed Francisco Mata, head of the Bodega and Small Business Association.

Another measure would have raised the penalty of assaulting a retail worker from a misdemeanor to a bail-eligible Class D felony assault in the second degree — such as the case with taxi drivers, utility workers and first responders and other essential government workers.

That bill, sponsored by state Sen. Jessica Scarcella Spanton (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn) and state Assemblyman Manny De Los Santos, a Democrat who represents the northern Manhattan neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood, also got blocked.

Gristedes supermarket owner John Catsimatidis said “it’s crazy” that the legislature didn’t address the shoplifting issue.

“What are you going to do? Wait 100 years to do something about it? How do you spell bupkis,” Catsimatidis said.

The legislature did pass one bill: creating a task force to study the shoplifting issue, delaying action until next year.

Mata noted that Mayor Eric Adams had already released his own report that recommended ways to tackle retail theft.

“Creating a task force is not acting. We don’t need a task force! I want consequences. Punish the shoplifters,” he said.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins (D-Yonkers) had no immediate comment.