New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised to tax the rich and deliver “abundance” in his inaugural speech on January 1. Mamdani, a Democrat, was sworn in at a decommissioned subway station below City Hall, placing his hand on a Quran as he took his oath as the city's first Muslim mayor.
After working part of the night in his new office, Mamdani returned to City Hall in a taxi cab around midday Thursday for a grander public inauguration where US Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the mayor’s political heroes, administered the oath for a second time.
“Beginning today, we will govern expansively and audaciously. We may not always succeed, but never will we be accused of lacking the courage to try,” Mamdani told a cheering crowd.
“I will govern as a democratic socialist”
Mamdani, a democratic socialist, said he would make good on his campaign promises and “replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
“I was elected as a democratic socialist and I will govern as a democratic socialist. I will not abandon my principles for fear of being deemed radical,” he declared.
Before administering the oath, Sanders had told the crowd that most of the things Mamdani wants to do — including raising taxes on the rich — aren't radical at all. “In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”
{{/usCountry}}Before administering the oath, Sanders had told the crowd that most of the things Mamdani wants to do — including raising taxes on the rich — aren't radical at all. “In the richest country in the history of the world, making sure that people can live in affordable housing is not radical,” he told the crowd. “It is the right and decent thing to do.”
{{/usCountry}}As Sanders spoke, chants of “tax the rich” were heard from the crowd.
Mamdani promises to tax the rich
Zohran Mamdani said the rich would have to share power in New York.
“This will not be a tale of one city governed only by the 1%, nor will it be a tale of two cities, the rich versus the poor,” he said in his speech.
“Who does New York belong to? For much of our history, the response from City Hall has been simple: It belongs only to the wealthy and well-connected those who never strained to capture the attention of those in power.
“Working people have reckoned with the consequences. Crowded classrooms and public housing developments where the elevators sit out of orders. Roads littered with potholes and buses that arrive half an hour late, if at all. Wages that do not rise in corporations that rip off consumers and employees alike.”
The 34-year-old said that in his quest to deliver “abundance” to New Yorkers, he would fight against corporate greed.
“City Hall will deliver an agenda of safety, affordability, an abundance, where government looks and lives like the people it represents never flinches in the fight against corporate greed and refuses to cower before challenges that others have deemed too complicated,” he declared.
Reiterating his promise to tax the rich, Mamdani said: “The cost of childcare will no longer discourage young adults from starting a family because we will deliver universal childcare for the many by taxing the wealthiest few.”
(With inputs from AP)