Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has weighed in on New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s proposed pied-à-terre tax, which would levy an annual surcharge on non-primary residences valued at $5 million or more, according to a report by Fortune. Bezos, who himself owns a residence in the city, said that the proposed tax itself was ‘a fine thing for New York to do’, likening it to hotels that fall on out-of-towners. Bezos has cautioned that increasing the hotel taxes too aggressively could backfire. “If you raise the hotel taxes too much, tourists stop coming. So you have to be judicious,” he said, urging city leaders to balance revenue generation with economic competitiveness.
Criticism of villain strategy
Bezos also criticised Mamdani’s April 14 video filmed outside Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s Central Park South penthouse, which announced the tax proposal. “Ken Griffin isn’t a villain. He hasn’t hurt anybody. He’s not hurting New York. In fact, quite the opposite,” Bezos said, rejecting what he called the “villain strategy” of targeting individuals. Griffin had called the video “creepy” and threatened to cancel a $6 billion Midtown development project, prompting mediation by Governor Kathy Hochul.
Redirecting the fiscal argument
While staying above the personal feud, Bezos redirected the debate toward government spending. “Any corporate CEO, CFO worth their salt—an Amazon CFO could find 3% in the federal budget on a Tuesday afternoon. There is so much waste in government spending,” he argued, suggesting inefficiency, not insufficient taxation, is the real issue.
Jeff Bezos criticised Zohran Mamdani’s economic policies
This is not the first time that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has criticised New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Recently, Bezos criticised New York City’s public school spending and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s economic policies. He argued that increased funding alone does not solve the underlying issues. During an interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, Bezos compared the city’s education system with Amazon’s operations, saying inefficiencies in public administration would not be tolerated in business. “If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We’d have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then when the package did finally arrive, it’d have the wrong item in it anyway,” Bezos told CNBC.He followed up by clashing with Mamdani over billionaire taxes, arguing that raising taxes on the wealthy would not materially improve life for working-class residents. Mamdani countered: “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.”
