A war of words has erupted between Zohran Mamdani and billionaire Ken Griffin over the New York mayor’s vow to “tax the rich”. The founder and chief executive of hedge fund Citadel, who also owns America’s most expensive apartment, said Mamdani was “making it really clear: New York doesn’t welcome success”. Griffin said he would “double down” focusing on Miami to grow his business interests rather than Manhattan. Mamdani filmed a video in April outside Griffin’s New York penthouse to promote a new tax on luxury properties in the city.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, Griffin said Mamdani’s video was “creepy and weird”. And he warned it posed security risks, pointing to the fatal shooting nearby of UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson. “Anything that creates, like an agitation, in the extremist on either side of the aisle is a frightening dynamic,” Griffin said. In a response issued to the Wall Street Journal later that day, Mamdani’s press secretary Joe Calvello said the mayor wants all New Yorkers to succeed, praising the business owners and entrepreneurs who “make this city the economic engine of America”.
“It also includes Ken Griffin, who is a major employer in our city and a powerful figure in our economy,” Calvello said. He added: “That does not negate the fact, however, that our tax system is fundamentally broken.” In Mamdani’s video, posted to coincide with tax day, he said: “When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we’re taxing the rich.” He set out how a so-called pied-à-terre tax, an annual fee on properties worth more than $5m (£3.7m) in the city, will raise at least $500m. The tax targets “those who store their wealth in New York City real estate but don’t actually live here”.
“Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238m,” Mamdani said, while standing in front of the property’s building. When Griffin bought the apartment in 2019 it became, and remains, the most expensive property purchased in the US. Mamdani has said raising taxes on the wealthy could provide as much as $9bn for his agenda, along with increasing the corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 11.5%. But his calls for wealth taxes have split opinion, with critics warning higher levies would drive business people out of the city, lowering the overall tax take.
