New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani sharpened his wealth-redistribution message on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, declaring that “billionaires shouldn’t exist” and unveiling plans to raise new revenue from the city’s most affluent neighbourhoods. The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman, who recently clinched the Democratic nomination, argued that extreme fortunes are incompatible with a city where one in four residents lives in poverty.
Mamdani also defended a proposal on his campaign website to “shift the tax burden” from homeowners in the outer boroughs to properties in what he called “richer and whiter” districts. He said the language reflects longstanding inequities in the city’s property-assessment system rather than a race-based policy, pointing to lower effective tax rates on high-value brownstones in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Under the candidate’s broader fiscal blueprint, New Yorkers earning at least $1 million a year would face a 2-percentage-point surcharge, and the top corporate rate would be lifted to match neighbouring New Jersey. New York City is home to an estimated 123 billionaires, while millionaires already contribute about 41% of its personal-income tax receipts.
Business leaders swiftly criticised the remarks. Hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman signalled he was prepared to bankroll an opponent, warning that Mamdani’s agenda would erode the city’s competitiveness. Republican and centrist Democrats accused the candidate of stoking racial division, although Mamdani maintained the measures are aimed solely at correcting economic imbalance.
The November ballot is expected to feature incumbent Eric Adams running as an independent, Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and possibly former governor Andrew Cuomo, whom Mamdani edged out in the primary. With polls showing the socialist’s affordability platform resonating among younger and lower-income voters, wealth and taxation have become the defining fault lines in the race.
BREAKING: ZOHRAN MAMDANI: “A society that produces billionaires while millions go hungry isn’t successful; it’s broken. I don’t think we should have billionaires. Full stop.”
Communist Muslim NYC Mayoral Candidate Reaffirms Plan To Target “Whiter Neighborhoods” | @DrewHLive
Zohran Mamdani, the Democrat nominee for New York City mayor, has proposed shifting the tax burden to “richer and whiter neighborhoods” to alleviate financial pressure on
