From “What Next”: How “Tax the Rich” Went Mainstream
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey guys, it's Mark. Our team is taking a breather over the holiday weekend here in the U.S., but we wanted to share a podcast we think you're going to love. What Next is the daily news podcast over at Slate.com. It features some of the biggest news stories each week, and it's got that tongue-in-cheek introspective analysis Slate's known for. The episode you're about to hear is all about wealth taxes. You know, the ones in New York and California. As some billionaires threaten to jump ship, residents are left wondering, what next? If you like what you hear and you want to hear more, follow What Next wherever you listen. You can find a link in the show notes. And now I'm going to hand it over to host Mary Harris.
Enjoy.
Earlier this week, New York's mayor, Zoran Mamdani, released this video where he is standing right on top of City Hall and taking what amounts to a victory lap.
New York, it's executive budget season. I'm proud to announce that our city's budget is fully balanced.
He rattles off a bunch of numbers, as if balancing the city's budget was as simple as racking up a high score in a video game. And then he gets to his signature achievement. taxing the rich.
Thanks to Governor Hochul, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assembly Speaker Carl Hastie, and months of organizing from New Yorkers, we tax the rich. That tax alone will raise half a billion dollars per year. And that's not all.
What Mamdani is not saying here is that his new tax is nowhere close to what he campaigned on. He wanted to raise income taxes on millionaires. This tax is a lot more limited. It's a higher property tax for people with second homes, sometimes known as pied-à-terres. And it only applies to places that are worth five million bucks or more. Of course, this has not stopped the very wealthy from getting mad about this tax. And in circumstances like this, I call up my friend Stephanie Rule. So I wanted to call you up. Because you wanted to hang out and talk? Steph's got her own show at MSNOW, where she's also a senior business analyst. She used to work in finance. She knows a few rich New Yorkers. And she knows how they are feeling right now.
They are very upset. And I'm not defending it. I'm not complimenting it. They are very upset.
Steph was actually just at this conference in Beverly Hills for the Milken Institute. It's the kind of place where rich folks talk to rich folks and try to get richer. And at places like this, Steph says, there's a little anxiety.
They're feeling the eat the rich sentiment. And if you look at sort of the super rich in New York City, they would make the argument to you. The reason New York is the art center that it is. This is the most philanthropic city in America. Like this is the one city where wealthy people don't move out to the suburbs. They stay in the city and they give back to the city. Our philanthropy is extraordinary.
How did New York's mayor present the new tax proposal?
They would argue that like their philanthropy is, uh excuses their wealth or or people don't appreciate that so even more than saying how could these rich people not pay more taxes the question i don't think is that the question is to all of the lawmakers who created all of the loopholes for the super rich to swan dive through So for every lawmaker out there that created a loophole because they got a $25,000 donation from a super rich person, that lawmaker needs to take a long look in the mirror because they're the reason that the divide is only growing.
Steph's got a point here. But with the Trump administration dead set against raising taxes, this self-reflection has fallen to local electeds. And it is not just Zoran. Lawmakers in Maine and Washington state have gotten on board with taxing the rich, too. In the fall, voters in California are going to have the chance to weigh in on a one-time tax for all the state's billionaires. In preparation, folks like Google founder Sergey Brin have already packed up their things.
It's a wealth tax. And we're going to see, I just think in the case of California, and again, I'm not saying don't tax them more, but I don't think that the way they have this structure, I don't think it's going to get them the result that they're looking for.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:12
2
How did New York's mayor present the new tax proposal?
3:12–9:35
3
What are the reactions from wealthy New Yorkers regarding the tax?
9:35–12:31
4
What does Stephanie Ruhle say about the sentiment among the rich?
12:31–18:13
5
How are lawmakers responding to the wealth tax movement?
18:13–20:49
6
What are the differences between New York and California's tax proposals?
20:49–26:13