Breadcrumb Trail Links
Mamdani is exploiting that certainty to close what he claims is a $5.4-billion city budget gap.
Published Mar 22, 2026 • Last updated 11 hours ago • 3 minute read
You can save this article by registering for free here. Or sign-in if you have an account.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani leaves after participating in Eid Al-Fitr Prayers at Parade Ground in Prospect Park on March 20, 2026 in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough in New York City. Photo by Michael M. Santiago /Getty ImagesArticle content
If New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gets his way, half of everything New Yorkers work a lifetime for — including their homes, their businesses or farms and their savings — could be stripped away on their deathbeds.
Advertisement 2
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.
REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.
THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authors
Article content
No more Empire State; he’d make it the Expropriation State.
Article content
Article content
Only one thing in life is certain: We all die.
Mamdani is exploiting that certainty to close what he claims is a $5.4-billion city budget gap.
More than that, he aims to undermine the foundations of American life by attacking wealth accumulation, home ownership and private property, per the radical agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Death tax imposed
Currently, New York is one of a handful of states that imposes a death tax, a 16% levy on estates worth more than $7 million.
But last week, the tax wish list Mamdani circulated to state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed lowering the threshold to a mere $750,000, which would clobber millions more New Yorkers across the state with a punishing tax.
Your Midday Sun
Thanks for signing up!
Article content
Advertisement 3
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
He would also hike the rate to a whopping 50%, which is two-and-a-half times the next highest rate, 20%, charged in Hawaii and Washington state.
The worst feature of Mamdani’s tax proposal is its built-in “cliff,” meaning that once an estate hits $750,000 in value, the confiscatory 50% rate applies to all assets, not just the amount above that figure.
Half the estate gets wiped out, and Albany, the state capital, steps in to take it.
Consider that the average home value in Westchester County right now is $823,340, while the median home price in Nassau County is a staggering $875,000.
Even assuming no other assets, the legacy of most Westchester and Nassau homeowners would fall into the tax collector’s hands.
Bruce Blakeman, Hochul’s Republican rival for governor in November, quickly pounced on the issue, calling it “the most extreme Death Tax in America.”
Advertisement 4
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
“Children will lose half the value of their parents’ home…and family businesses will have to be sold off just to pay this cruel tax,” Blakeman stated in a social media post.
Hochul herself, though, has been silent on Mamdani’s pitch.
And while it’s unlikely Hochul will actively back something so radical, Mamdani has now injected the idea into the political conversation in Albany.
Mayor of renters
Mamdani’s outrageous 50% rate is just a first bid. You can bet that his allies in the leftist state legislature will impose some form of estate tax hike soon.
You won’t hear Mamdani’s voters complaining because he’s the mayor of renters.
A majority of New Yorkers statewide — 51% — own their own homes, but in New York City, the figure is a mere 32%.
Mamdani swept into city hall on a promise to freeze rents and increase government power over housing. The homeownership ideal and the dream of passing your home and your prosperity to your kids are antithetical to him and his democratic socialist compatriots.
Advertisement 5
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
Even a watered-down version of Mamdani’s proposal would devastate New York’s farming industry, 98% of which is made up of family farms.
The average net farm income is $76,281 — hardly even middle class — but based on current land values, the majority of those farms would fall into the state’s clutches under Mamdani’s proposal.
The irony is, raising the estate tax would likely be a net revenue loser, costing the state tax dollars instead of increasing them.
Fleeing to death-friendlier states
Economists Enrico Moretti and Daniel J. Wilson have found that when states with high income tax rates hike the estate tax as well, high earners flee, causing more loss of tax revenue than gain.
“You can either be progressive on income tax or be progressive on adopting an estate tax, but if you do both, it’s going to backfire,” they concluded.
Advertisement 6
This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.
Article content
The highest earners flee to death-friendlier states, simply to preserve family wealth.
Mamdani claims he’s pushing confiscatory taxes because he needs money to close the city’s budget gap.
New York City’s budget is larger than the budget of the state of Florida, which has nearly three times as many people.
Let him cut spending if he needs some breathing room.
Truth is, Mamdani and his Democratic Socialists of America allies in the state legislature oppose private property and will use any pretext to confiscate it.
Don’t let these radicals, elected by urban voters who don’t care a whit about homeownership, small businesses or family farming, destroy the lifetime dreams of millions of New Yorkers.
Whether you usually vote Republican or Democratic, it’s time to sound the alarm before this un-American attack on property rights picks up any more steam.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant-governor of New York State
Article content
Share this article in your social network