Mamdani, who took office in January, is threatening to hike city property taxes by almost 10% unless Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state legislature agree to increase income taxes on the wealthy and also up the corporate tax.
Citing studies concluding that the working-class and middle-class residents are the ones leaving the city because of high costs, Mamdani and other "tax the rich" advocates do not believe the tax hikes will drive away the wealthy residents.
"Amidst being in the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, we already see an exodus of working- and middle-class New Yorkers," the socialist mayor said in a March 12 press briefing. "I don't have a hesitation in asking those who make the most amount of money in the city or the most profits in the city to pay a little bit more so that everyone can actually stay in the city."
Meanwhile, Steve Fulop, CEO of the Partnership for the City of New York, says the city's CEOs are talking privately about ramping up job production in Texas instead of adding jobs in New York, which is already losing banking jobs to the business-friendly, low-tax Lone Star state.
Fulop has warned that even a small number of businesses or people leaving could put New York in hot water.
Still, Mamdani claims racial disparities in areas like housing, education and income, and he aims to "establish a new framework for how New York City measures affordability, understands inequity and plans for a more equitable future."
Ayesha Kreutz, an ambassador for the Project 21 Black Leadership Network, says this is all about coddling people, "not asking them to raise the bar and get out of their struggles."
"That's not the government's job," she asserts. "The job isn't to say … the outcome has to be the same. We can't engineer equal outcomes through policy, and you certainly can't do it through racist policies. All you're doing is causing division."
But Kreutz says perpetuating the problem is the actual plan.
"The only thing that we're going to be talking about is white versus black," she summarizes. "They know that that is their moneymaker. That's the place where they can continue to keep themselves in power and divide us."
Mamdani's Preliminary Citywide Racial Equity Plan and inaugural NYC True Cost of Living Measure have already received pushback from conservatives and the Justice Department, with one official saying she will "review" the move.
New York City is ranked as the wealthiest city in the world because it has the highest number of millionaires and billionaires living there. By total economic size (GDP), however, Tokyo is considered the largest or richest.
