‘We Need to Tax Billionaires’: Mayor Zohran Mamdani Offers Strong Rebuke against Jeff Bezos’s ‘teacher in Queens’ Comment
Alexa, play 'Rich People by Carsie Blanton
“Tax the rich” is not a phrase to be used lightly and has been part of ongoing protests and pop culture for a long time. However, little has been done to actually tax the wealthy, and every time a politician approaches this issue, let alone implements it, the wealthy push back the most (as expected), citing reasons that seem unintelligible to me.
The latest to join the group (though I’m almost certain he has spoken about this before) of billionaires who believe taxing the rich wouldn’t help ease pressure on ordinary US citizens is Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. As of May 28, 2026, Forbes estimates Bezos’s net worth at $280.2 billion, making him the fourth-richest person in the world. Yet, while speaking to CNBC Television just eight days ago, he appeared to suggest that spending on individual students in New York City was what was preventing lower-income groups from leading decent lives.
Jeff Bezos says him getting taxed would not help anyone
In an interview on Squawk Box, shared on CNBC Television’s YouTube channel on May 20, 2026, Jeff Bezos made several statements that have become topics of conversation and controversy. However, the part of his interview that has drawn the most attention is where he discusses wealth, especially his emphasis on the idea that taxing billionaires like him would not benefit people in lower economic echelons. He mentions that those who pay only 3 percent of the taxes, including “the bottom half of income earners” in the country, should not pay any taxes at all. I agree with that, but then he says something I don’t really believe is true, and I’m sure many others would feel the same.
Talking about how increasing his taxes would not help people in the United States, Bezos said, “You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you, you can’t connect those two things, not logically.” He also took a jab at the New York City education system, saying, “If we ran Amazon the way New York City runs their school system, your packages would take six weeks to arrive. We’d have to charge you a $100 delivery fee. And then, when the package finally arrived, it’d have the wrong item in it anyway.”
Zohran Mamdani snaps back at Jeff Bezos for NYC school comment
A significant part of Zohran Mamdani’s campaign during the mayoral election was his commitment to taxing the wealthy of New York City so that others could enjoy a better quality of life. Even after winning the election and becoming the mayor of New York this year, Mamdani has maintained his campaign beliefs and publicly confirmed that he still adheres to them. Moreover, he has also taken steps aligned with his core values.
Therefore, as someone who has repeatedly claimed to love New York, which also helped him win the mayoral election last year, Zohran Mamdani took offense at Jeff Bezos’s comment from his CNBC interview, where he said that a teacher in Queens would not benefit from having his taxes doubled. Sharing a clip of Bezos’s interview on X, Mamdani, taking a dig at him, wrote, “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.”
(featured image: YouTube/CNBC Television)
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