MLK Day: Mayor Mamdani makes personal case for support of his ‘tax the rich’ plan during speech at BAM event

By Adam Daly

Posted on January 19, 2026

Mayor Zohran Mamdani used his Martin Luther King Jr. Day speech at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) on Monday to push back against warnings that his plan for higher taxes on wealthy New Yorkers would drive them out of the city, arguing that city leaders have ignored what he described as a more concrete and damaging population loss.

“When I speak about how the wealthiest in this city should pay a little bit more in taxes, I am often told about a potential exodus,” Mamdani said. “But why is there no focus on the exodus of fact?”