On his show Tuesday, Hoover Institution Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson called out Democrat New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s plan to tax “whiter neighborhoods,” arguing that white people aren’t the majority of wealthy earners in the U.S.
As Mamdani’s potential plans for New York City come under the media spotlight, his campaign proposal to raise taxes on wealthier neighborhoods — including “richer and whiter” areas — has drawn repeated criticism. While discussing the candidate’s background on “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” Hanson said Mamdani comes from a “very wealthy” background.
“We were just talking about entitled people. He goes to Bowdoin College. His dad is a professor of Middle East Studies. His mother’s a filmmaker. He’s very wealthy. He was pampered. He kind of lounged around after college, and then he says he’s going to go after the more affluent and whiter. No, no, no, no, no, Mr. Mamdani. I want to tell you something,” Hanson said.
“I just looked at per capita income by ethnic affiliation. What is the number one ethnic group in the United States on basis of their income? You know what it is, Mr. Mamdani. It’s you,” Hanson added. “It’s people from India. Four years ago, the recent census data, $106,000 was your average income. Now, whiter districts, they’re down to 17 [at] $59,000. And who is between 17 and number one? Other Asian groups, Filipinos, Japanese Americans, Chinese, Taiwanese, Arab, people from the Middle East in some cases.”
Mamdani’s father Mahmood is a renowned postcolonial scholar of Gujarati Shia Muslim background who teaches at Columbia University, while his mother Mira Nair is a well-known Indian‑American filmmaker. After relocating to Manhattan’s Upper West Side, Mamdani attended the Bank Street School, a prestigious private school that costs around $66,000 today, according to Mint.
Since earning his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College in Maine, reports show Mamdani’s current net worth sits at $200,000, and he lives in a $2,250 a month rent-stabilized Astoria apartment, Mint reported. Mamdani additionally acquired four acres of land in Jinja, Uganda, which is reportedly valued between $150,000 and $250,000, according to the outlet.