© CNP / Kyle Mazza / Sipa USA
(New York, NY) – New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has put what has been dubbed an “affordability crisis” front and center as he runs to be a mayor representing all five boroughs.
But comments Mamdani made about shifting New York City’s tax burden suggest that commitment might be more a matter of optics and spin than substance, at least where some New Yorkers are concerned.
His comments also appear race-focused, which may cross the line for some progressive New Yorkers.
In an online version of Mamdani’s “Homeowner Policy Memo,” the mayoral frontrunner says he plans to “shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and white neighborhoods,” a dive into racial politics that may undercut his objective of being seen as a unifying figure.
In the memo, Mamdani explicitly puts forward a plan to “effectively lower tax payments for homeowners in neighborhoods like Jamaica and Brownsville while raising the amount paid in the most expensive Brooklyn brownstones.”
Both Jamaica and Brownsville are known for their large majority populations, while Brooklyn brownstones are of course popular investments for wealthier, whiter New Yorkers seeking more space at lower prices than what might be available in Manhattan.
In the memo, Mamdani also pledges to “stop treating co-ops and condos as if they were rentals.”
That would mean a large tax hike for co-op and condo owners, but could drive wealthier owners of New York property who contribute to the local economy through plenty of day-to-day expenditures out of the city.
Mamdani singles out 220 Central Park South, which he describes as “the most expensive home ever sold in the United States, which the Department valued at $9.4 million despite its staggering $228 million sale price.” Mamdani says that “taxing this property at its market value would raise $3 million per year alone.”
But real estate experts have already warned of an exodus of wealthier New Yorkers, should Mamdani win—a trend that would almost certainly be exacerbated if he pursued these tax plans.
In August, mother and daughter real estate experts Dolly and Jenny Lenz told Fox Business, “We’re getting so many calls… from people who say, ‘Look, if [Mamdani’s] in, I’m out.’ They’re going to vote with their feet, they’re going to list their apartments, and they’re moving.”
Some realtors from Fairfield County, Connecticut, have also indicated to 77 WABC that New Yorkers are beginning to scour the market for options in their region.
The city of Stamford, Connecticut, is currently weighing an overhaul to zoning that locals say is predicated on assumptions of a mass exodus of New Yorkers—including from parts of Brooklyn.
“They’re going to Greenwich, to New Jersey, to Florida,” Dolly Lenz told Fox Business.
That could mean that even if Mamdani wins in November, he could wind up losing, thanks to a plan that appears predicated on race and class warfare.
