Mamdani’s foreign policy positions will no doubt alienate many New Yorkers and, on that basis alone, force them to re-evaluate their commitment to the city as a place to live, work or operate a business.
His economic agenda is also highly concerning. New York City, which represents the headquarters of nearly 10% of all Fortune 500 companies, is America’s financial capital and home to many highly paid business professionals.
Mamdani has proposed a millionaire’s tax (an incremental 2% flat tax on anyone earning more than a million dollars per year). He also has proposed an increase in the city corporate income tax rate from 7.5% to 11.5%.
Mamdani’s socialism in infused with woke race ideology. His campaign materials call for higher property taxes for those who live in “richer and whiter neighborhoods.”
These potential tax hikes would be used to fund a wide array of spending programs, including free public transportation and free child care. He has also wants to create grocery stores that will be owned and operated by the city itself.
Other policies he champions include strengthening rent control laws and gradually lifting the minimum wage to $30 per hour.
Will New York City be safe?
Crime is another variable that New York businesses and residents now must revisit.
Using abstract academic language that would make his Columbia professor father beam, but perhaps terrify subway riders, Mamdani has declared that “violence is an artificial construct.”
When it comes to the police, Mamdani softened his rhetoric a bit during the campaign. There are deleted tweets from 2020, however, that seem to reveal his real inclinations.
