‘He’s chasing people out’: Trump bashes Mamdani over proposed tax on ultrarich

President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have appeared quite cordial since their meeting on housing at the White House last month. Then came this week’s tax news.

On Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul formally announced her and Mamdani’s proposal to tax people who have second homes in New York City worth more than $5 million.

It marks a surprising shift for the Democrat, who initially pledged not to add to New York residents’ tax burden — and a major win for Mamdani, for whom taxing the rich was a cornerstone of his mayoral campaign.

The tax, according to Mamdani’s office, is expected to generate $500 million annually and impact roughly 13,000 homes. Trump is not a fan.

The president accused Mamdani of “destroying New York” in a Truth Social post Thursday. He accused the mayor of running people out of the city.

Speaking at a no-tax-on-tips roundtable in Las Vegas, Nevada, that night, the president lit up “these blue states” that are raising them. He called the governor of Virginia “crazy,” and then went after Mamdani.

“I mean, he’s a nice guy. Calls me all the time, says Hi, but his policies are no good,” Trump said. “He’s chasing people out and causing a lot of harm to everybody, I mean, everybody’s taxes are going through the roof.”

It wasn’t immediately clear if Mamdani addressed the president’s comment at an unrelated press conference Friday.

Earlier in the week, he thanked the governor for her support, saying, “We are one step closer to balancing our budget by taxing the ultra-wealthy and global elites with a pied-à-terre tax — the first of its kind in our state.”

The pied-à-terre tax is a significant policy proposal for Hochul, who has previously voiced concerns about the best way to fill budget gaps without driving wealthy New Yorkers away.

The governor implied she was still not in favor of the two taxes Mamdani has called on her to raise (income and corporate), but would not commit that there would be no other new taxes.

The proposed tax — Hochul called it a “surcharge,” while Mamdani called it a “tax” — is expected to be part of the next state budget, which legislators are months behind in approving. State lawmakers still have to OK it.

The governor’s announcement received both praise and pushback from across the state.