Zohran Mamdani, NYC’s Democratic nominee for mayor, elicited laughter and mockery on social media over his plan to keep the ultra-wealthy in the Big Apple if he’s elected and carries out his socialist ideas.
“Now, you’ve been running on the platform of affordability,” said MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” host Al Sharpton on Sunday. “Like a rent freeze, you mentioned, free buses, city-owned groceries that made you popular with some working New Yorkers, but not so popular with real estate developers and the financial class…but right now, the top 1 percent of earners in this city pay for 40 percent of the city’s income taxes…how do you bring these wealthy residents to the table as mayor, stop them from saying they’re leaving, going to Florida ‘cuz we need that tax revenue to pay for some of the things you’ve talked about.”
Mamdani told Sharpton his vision for the city includes them staying, but even the MSNBC host can see the writing on the wall.
“But how do you get them to stay?” he pressed again.
“In part by showing them that asking them to pay more in taxes would increase even their quality of life because when you ask New Yorkers what is it that is making them feel uneasy in this city you often hear from them about the cleanliness of our city, the safety of our city, the affordability of our city," Mamdani explained. "We are not asking to raise these taxes for the sake of it. We’re asking so that we can actually make the slowest buses in the country fast and free. So we can actually create a Department of Community Safety that would deploy dedicated teams of mental health outreach workers to the top 100 stations of the highest levels of mental health crises and homelessness—that relationship proving that that tax dollar leads to that investment.”
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Mamdani claimed that it’s not just fiscal policy that drives wealthy New Yorkers out of the city, because many who leave go to other high-tax locations like California and New Jersey. He also disputed that many would go to the Sunshine State over its recent move to eliminate vaccine mandates.
He'll see soon enough, if elected, that his fanciful notions will end up faring no better than the countless other times they've been tried in history.
lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooo https://t.co/0RVfNtaa44
— LB (@beyondreasdoubt) September 7, 2025
This would only work if people had ANY hope that their tax dollars would fund noble things.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) September 8, 2025
But when you’re simultaneously running to defund the police, upend public safety, and use tax dollars for things like transing kids - it’s not a very compelling proposal. https://t.co/J4zHbs07xY
Lololololololololol
— Elizabeth Barcohana (@E_Barcohana) September 8, 2025
RIP NYC.
Brace yourself, Florida & Tennessee. https://t.co/h60elWev5w
Bwaahahahaha
— Al (@AlBeachGuy) September 8, 2025
Oh wait, he was serious?
Bwaahahahaha https://t.co/KC8Qz4Sqw7
Voters get to choose. And in this social media age, it takes ten minutes of effort to find out who you’re voting for and what he’s going to do.
— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) September 8, 2025
If NYC chooses this guy, they deserve everything that’s coming.
Four magical words:
You voted for this. https://t.co/cXWtvdG3dA
