{"id":44780,"date":"2025-10-29T12:18:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=44780"},"modified":"2025-10-29T12:18:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-29T19:18:04","slug":"billionaires-spend-big-to-tank-mamdani-who-vows-to-tax-the-rich-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/10\/29\/billionaires-spend-big-to-tank-mamdani-who-vows-to-tax-the-rich-in-nyc\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaires Spend Big to Tank Mamdani, Who Vows to \u2018Tax the Rich\u2019 in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"New<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during an election rally at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on October 26, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZohran Mamdani is showing the way for politicians who still haven\u2019t figured out that fairer taxes on the rich and corporations are both good policy and good politics,\u201d said the head of Americans for Tax Fairness.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oct 28, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week away from Election Day in New York<\/a> City, a national economic justice group on Tuesday released<\/a> a report detailing how billionaires<\/a> \u201coutraged at the prospect of the rich and corporations paying higher taxes\u201d have spent millions of dollars to defeat Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust 62 billionaires and descendants of billionaire families (\u2018billionaire spenders\u2019) as of October 14th have contributed over one-third\u201437%, or $18.7 million\u2014of all the donations collected by so-called outside expenditure groups involved in the race,\u201d according to the Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund (ATFAF) report, Billionaires Buying Gracie Mansion<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"New<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Tax the Rich!\u2019: Packed Mamdani Rally Features Sanders, AOC, and Hochul Ahead of Election Day<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Zohran<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Raucous Mamdani Rally Reveals Political Battle Stretches Beyond New York City<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The publication notes that \u201calmost all of that money has backed former New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo<\/a>,\u201d who is running as an Indepedent after losing<\/a> the Democratic primary to Mamdani, a democratic socialist in the state Assembly who has campaigned on promises to make the metropolis more affordable for everyday people and \u201ctax the rich!<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Specifically, 58 of the 62 billionaire spenders gave \u201ca total of $18.4 million to Cuomo-aligned super political action committees (super PACs<\/a>), ATFAF found. \u201dMamdani has received the support of just two billionaire spenders, who together have contributed $270,000 to outside PACs pushing his candidacy.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report highlights that billionaire former NYC mayor and media<\/a> mogul Michael Bloomberg<\/a>, who has<\/a> a net worth of roughly $109 billion, \u201cis leading the anti-Mamdani charge, having personally donated $8.3 million to the main super PAC backing Cuomo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg and the dozens of other billionaires trying to sway the race \u201chave spent nearly twice the amount 60,000 individual contributors have made directly to the three general election candidates (including Republican Curtis Sliwa),\u201d the document details. \u201cThis is because unlike direct donations to candidates, there is no limit on contributions to outside spending groups.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York is not only the nation\u2019s most populous city, it\u2019s also a billionaire hotspot. The report points out that \u201cas of October 1st, New York City<\/a> is the primary residence to 111 billionaires, according to Forbes<\/em>, with lots more owning second homes or business property in the Big Apple<\/a>. Collectively, these 111 billionaires are worth $717 billion, over six times the city\u2019s annual budget<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Cuomo is backed by billionaires, Mamdani is endorsed by national progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders<\/a> (I-Vt.) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a> (D-NY), whose district spans parts of the Bronx and Queens. The pair joined<\/a> New York state leaders, including Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, for a massive Sunday night rally in support of Mamdani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to taxing corporations and the 1%, Mamdani\u2019s platform<\/a> includes a rent freeze, constructing more affordable housing<\/a>, city-owned grocery stores, fare-free buses, no-cost childcare, building out renewable energy<\/a> on public lands, raising the minimum wage<\/a> to $30 by 2030, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The progressive candidate has also promised to stand up to Republican President Donald Trump<\/a>, a former longtime New Yorker who has threatened to arrest<\/a> Mamadani and to cut<\/a> all federal funds to New York City if he is victorious next week. Recent polling suggests Mamdani is well-positioned to win the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBillionaires feel threatened by a modest proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to help make life more affordable for ordinary city residents. That\u2019s why they\u2019re spending millions to drown out the effort with their money,\u201d Americans for Tax Fairness executive director David Kass said in a Tuesday statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoliticians and policymakers around the country should take note of how popular a progressive tax agenda can be with Americans across the political spectrum,\u201d Kass added. \u201cZohran Mamdani is showing the way for politicians who still haven\u2019t figured out that fairer taxes on the rich and corporations are both good policy and good politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani speaks during an election rally at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on October 26, 2025. \u00a0(Photo by Selcuk Acar\/Anadolu via Getty Images) \u201cZohran Mamdani is showing the way for politicians who still haven\u2019t figured out that fairer taxes on the rich and corporations… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44781,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44780\/revisions\/44781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}