Zohran Mamdani & NYC’s unaffordable economy

The promise of taxing the rich to fund social services propelled Zohran Mamdani to victory in Tuesday’s New York City Democratic mayoral primary. His campaign vows to reverse decades of social service cuts and tackle NYC's pervasive unaffordability.

- Daniel Wortel-London, Tribune News Service

Taxing the rich for the sake of the poor, however, contains an inherent contradiction. The wealthy are, in part, the very group whose concentrated economic activity has displaced working-class housing and jobs for decades. To rely on them to finance an affordable city risks merely perpetuating the problem, a lesson previous mayors learned too late.

For Mamdani to truly succeed, he must do more than just tax the rich — he must remake the city’s economy in the interests of its workers.

This is not a new insight. As my book “The Menace of Prosperity” details, as far back as Henry George, perceptive New Yorkers understood the intrinsic link between the growth of local wealth and the growth of local poverty.

Escalating land values directly translate to higher rents and increased homelessness. Unchecked real estate speculation displaces working-class enterprises and communities. This cycle inevitably leads to growing poverty, elevated crime rates, and declining public health.