New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani said Sunday he doesn’t believe “that we should have billionaires” because they have too much money at time when there is a lot of economic inequality. “You are a self-described democratic socialist. Do you think that billionaires have a right to exist?” NBC News’s Kristen Welker asked on “Meet the Press”. With a chuckle, Mamdani who proposed to tax the rich and the white areas of NYC said he personally thinks they should not exist but he’s ready to work with everyone, including billionaires. “I don’t think that we should have billionaires because, frankly, it is so much money in a moment of such inequality. And ultimately, what we need more of is equality across our city and across our state and across our country,” Mamdani explained. “And I look forward to working with everyone, including billionaires, to make a city that is fairer for all of them,” he added.Indian and African origin Mamdani dominated headlines after emerging as the possible winner of the Democratic nomination as former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo conceded the election. If Mamdani secures New York City’s top job, he would be its first Muslim and Asian mayor.His victory has already led to a major meltdown of the GOP politicians who called for an investigation into Mamdani’s background, his migration record and to deport him. Born in Uganda to Indian-origin parents, Mamdani came to the US in 1998 and became a US citizen in 2018. His election promise of taxing the richer and whiter neighborhoods of NYC to ensure equality drew a massive backlash. On that issue, Mamdani said that “one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety.” “And what we’ve seen is that this is a city that needs to be affordable for the people who build it every day,” he said adding that it was not a racial proposal; it’s more of an assessment of what neighborhoods are being under-taxed versus over-taxed. “We’ve seen time and again that this is a property tax system that is inequitable. It’s one that actually Eric Adams ran on, saying that he would change in the first 100 days,” he added.
