The phrase “tax the rich” can be “just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs”, according to the New York City billionaire Steve Roth, who said that the top 1% should be “praised and thanked”.
Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, expressed his support for fellow billionaire and the CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin, who was singled out in the 15 April announcement by New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of the state’s first “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5m. In a video, Mamdani announced the policy in front of Griffin’s penthouse, which he said was purchased for $238m.
“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said. “This was both irresponsible and dangerous.”
Edit: Mamdani’s video that sparked this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKZnVB4F9k
That’s pretty funny because the phrase doesn’t actually have a negative meaning. It’s a policy proposal at face value and at depth and that’s it. Doesn’t say the rich or bad people, although many of them are, doesn’t say that nobody should be rich, doesn’t even say how much they should be taxed.
And certainly nobody should be thanking the top 1%. We all know that they got there by lying and cheating and stealing and inheriting wealth.