Meet the Press interviews for 2025 races: on Tax Reform

Zohran Mamdani: 2% tax on top 1% of earners

MAMDANI: Our vision is to tax the top 1% of New Yorkers, these are New Yorkers that make a million a year or more. And our proposal is to just tax them by 2% additional, is something that has broad support, and we'll continue to increase that support over the next few months in New York.

Q: Does that risk New Yorkers moving to Florida?

MAMDANI: It's driven by an assessment of what's actually happening. The Fiscal Policy Institute found that the top 1% of New Yorkers leave at 1/4 the rate of other income groups. And when they do leave, it's actually to other states considered high-tax: New Jersey, California. So it's not fiscal policy. It's quality of life. And, ultimately, the reason I want to increase these taxes on the top 1%, the most profitable corporations, is to increase quality of life for everyone, including those who are going to be taxed.

Zohran Mamdani: Property tax system is inequitable and racist

MAMDANI: That is just a description of what we see right now. It's not driven by race. It's more of an assessment of what neighborhoods are being undertaxed versus overtaxed. We've seen time and again that this is a property tax system that is inequitable.

Q: By invoking race, do you run the risk of potentially alienating key constituents?

MAMDANI: I think I'm just naming things as they are. And, ultimately, 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. Rather, it's to ensure that we actually have an equal playing field. And right now what we see with the property tax system is one that is overtaxing a number of New Yorkers and undertaxing others.