The billionaire's boy club might be quaking in its boots right now, with Zorhan Mamdani securing a historic win in the race to become New York City mayor. Entering the history books as New York's first Muslim and South Asian mayor, he's also the youngest in over 100 years to secure the role at the age of 34.
In his victory speech, Mamdani quoted Eugene V. Debs' 1918 appeal to the Supreme Court when he said, "I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity," but for some of the world's richest, that might not be the case.
Mamdani's passionate campaign saw him pledge a series of controversial measures while he vowed to tackle the idea that NYC is 'too expensive'. Alongside freezing rents and allowing free bus travel, he's also discussed raising the minimum wage and increasing taxes on the city's wealthiest residents. This could include Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, who has a slew of properties. They include 212 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, which is valued at around $119 million for the combined units.
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Time has questioned whether Mamdani can achieve what he's promised, with Doug Turetsky, the former chief of staff and communications director at New York City's Independent Budget Office, reiterating: "Mamdani’s going to face a lot of pressure to make good on some of these promises...They're all feasible, and they're feasible because they're not really new."
Still, Turetsky warns these 'good promises' will be “tough to enact, and tough to enact quickly."
To fund his proposals, Mamdani has put the 1% in his crosshairs. There are grand plans to raise the corporate tax rate to 11.5% and match New Jersey to bring a supposed $5 billion to Manhattan. Anyone earning over $1 million annually could also be slapped with a 2% tax, which wouldn't exactly be short change for the likes of Bezos. Due to New York's nine income tax brackets ranging from 4% to 10.9%, the wealthiest also have to compete with a graduated corporate tax rate of between 6.5% and 7.25%, as well as residents stumping up for a 3.876% city tax.
This already means that they pay the highest non-federal income taxes in the USA.
You have to take a number of factors into account with ChatGPT estimating that Bezos could be shelling out up to an extra $3 million a year if Mamdani gets his way.
Imagining that Bezos has $50 million annual taxable income that's subject to New York taxes (it's likely more), a 2% surcharge on the $49 million over the $1 million excess works out at $980,000 a year.
You also have to include a rough estimate of the increased property tax on 212 Fifth Avenue, and if it rose by just 0.5%, that would be an extra $600,000 a year.
This is before we take into account the likes of his fancy condo at 220 Central Park South, meaning Bezos could be saddled with a much bigger bill. You need to remember that the wealthy like Bezos often use trusts, non-residence, and other ways to reduce their exposure to high taxes, but either way, Mamdani probably wasn't the Amazon boss' top choice.