NYC mayoral defends plan to target ‘whiter neighborhoods’ with higher taxes

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani doubled down on his plan to tax “richer and whiter neighborhoods,” while also adding that he believes billionaires should not exist. 

The democratic socialist claimed Sunday that his push to burden white taxpayers was not racist, despite his agenda explicitly targeting white-majority areas. 

“That is just a description of what we see right now,” Mamdani told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “It’s not driven by race. It’s more of an assessment of what neighborhoods are being under taxed and overtaxed.”

Mamdani’s policy proposal, “Stop the Sqeeze on NYC Homeowners,” outlines his plans to “shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.” 

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The policy notes that homeowners in wealthy neighborhoods “pay less than their fair share,” and proposes adjusting tax rates and assessment percentages to address the supposed imbalance. 

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When asked whether he would change the language of the proposal, Mamdani deflected, saying that the proposal is meant to ensure a fair property tax system and that the wording simply reflects an observation.

“The use of that language is just an assessment of the neighborhood.” Mamdani said.

“I’m just naming things as they are,” he added. “The thing that motivates me in this is to create a system of fairness. It is not to work backwards from a racial assessment of neighborhoods or our city.”

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Mamdani also reiterated his belief that “we shouldn’t have billionaires,” despite campaigning in the city believed to have the most billionaires in the world at 123 people. 

“I don’t think that we should have billionaires, frankly,” he said. “It is so much money in a moment of such inequality. And ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country.”