New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed his plans to raise property taxes on rich white people to alleviate the burden on poor black households.
Mamdani said raising property taxes on rich white households is justified because the “racial inequities in the City are stark.”
Mamdani said a study has shown that “the wealth of a median white household in this city is more than $200,000, while that of a black household is less than $20,000.”
The new property tax will shift the burden from overtaxed black households in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.
“This is not an indictment of any one New Yorker,” the mayor added. “It is an indictment, however, of policies and politics that have persisted for far too long.”
?BREAKING: NYC voters react with shock after Zohran confirms he will proceed with his campaign pledge to impose higher taxes on White residents to ease financial burdens on Black residents. pic.twitter.com/Jh8Yur3kEL
— Eric Deters (@bulllaw) April 8, 2026
Mamdani said his office is reckoning with a long history of racism in New York City, and he will “act upon a framework that puts equity right at the center of it.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin called the plan “unacceptable”.
“We have said a hard no to raising property taxes 9.5%. That is unacceptable.”
However, Mamdani said raising property taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers will “end the drain that has characterized the City’s relationship with the state.”
City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Wednesday reiterated their stances on the idea of raising property taxes in the city in order to balance the budget.
Menin, speaking at the National Action Network Convention, called the plan “unacceptable,” while… pic.twitter.com/AdbfgtDBR7
— Spectrum News NY1 (@NY1) April 8, 2026
