Mamdani proposed a new tax on second homes worth more than $5 million, which didn’t sit well with wealthy residents.
Photo: Luiz C. Ribeiro/NY Post
The wealthiest residents of New York turned against Mayor Zuhran Mamdani message Bloomberg reported.
In April, New York State Governor Cathy Hokul and Mamdani proposed a new tax on second homes worth more than $5 million. The initiative is aimed at ultra-rich elite real estate owners. The purpose of the measure is to supplement the city budget and fight against inequality. The idea has drawn criticism from the state’s richest men and US President Donald Trump. He called the proposed tax measures wrong.
Mayor Zuhron Mamdani’s press release announcing New York’s first residential rental tax says Ken Griffin, founder of Citadel LLC, bought the $238 million Midtown penthouse. This press release united the heads of companies on Wall Street and the wealthiest residents of the city against him. Even Democratic-friendly billionaires are skeptical of his policies. According to the businessmen, it was not the tax itself that angered them, but Mamdani’s personal attack on one of them.
Griffin’s Citadel, for its part, raised the question of the possibility of abandoning the large-scale project of reconstruction of the skyscraper on Park Avenue. The company’s proposed 62-story building is expected to bring $4.5 billion to New York, create 6,200 construction jobs and more than 15,000 permanent jobs.
Griffin, 57, who lives in Miami, has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to various institutions in the city, including the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the American Museum of Natural History, Bloomberg wrote.
According to surveys, Mamdani is still popular among city dwellers. In the first 100 days of the mayor’s activity, 48% of respondents approved of his activity, while 30% did not.
The new tax, which is being negotiated so far, aims to add $500 million to the city’s budget, which is facing a billion-dollar deficit, according to Bloomberg. Mamdani also advocates imposing taxes on the wealthiest individuals and large corporations to finance the expansion of social programs such as free buses and preschool education for children.
Mamdani became the mayor of New York last November. He is the first Muslim and South Asian politician to hold this position. The politician presents himself as a democratic socialist.
