State Watch

Mamdani rebuffs Bezos comment on raising taxes

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by Sarah Davis - 05/20/26 2:57 PM ET

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by Sarah Davis - 05/20/26 2:57 PM ET

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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D) pushed back on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on Wednesday after the billionaire businessman claimed that increasing his tax contributions would not “help that teacher in Queens.”

“I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ,” the mayor responded in a post on the social platform X.

Bezos is the fourth richest person in the world, and he has a net worth of over $270 billion. The founder has faced criticism from Democratic officials like Mamdani, who propose higher taxes on wealthy Americans.

When asked by CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday morning about this criticism, Bezos placed the onus on policymakers.

“People sometimes say I don’t pay taxes. That’s not true,” Bezos said.

“I pay billions of dollars of taxes … Again, if people want me to pay more billions, let’s have that debate, but don’t pretend that that’s going to solve the problem,” he continued. “You can double the taxes I pay, and it’s not going to help that teacher in Queens. I promise you.”

He accused politicians of “picking a villain and pointing fingers” in the tax debate instead of taking meaningful strides to make the system more equitable.

“Some people talk about making the tax system more progressive,” he said. “How about we start by having the nurse in Queens not pay taxes?”

Additionally, Bezos did not criticize the New York mayor’s proposed “pied-à-terre” tax, which would increase property taxes on second homes in the city that are worth over $5 million.

“I think that a pied-à-terre tax is a fine thing for New York to do,” Bezos said. “It’s a policy debate, and policy debates don’t have to be finger pointing.”

The billionaire also praised President Trump’s job performance during his second term, amid the president’s plummeting approval ratings.

“Trump has lots of good ideas,” he added. “He’s been right about a lot of things. You have to give him credit where credit is due.”

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