Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Rich New Yorkers Alarmed By de Blasio's Plan To Raise Taxes
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 4, 2013
Modified Sep 4, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Getty Images
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Sep 4, 2013
Modified Sep 4, 2013
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Unless the candidate who's deeply concerned about "POT HEADS" wins, New York City won't have a billionaire as its next mayor. This worries those who have benefitted most from Mayor Bloomberg's tenure as mayor: rich people. With the current leader of the pack of Democratic candidates proposing a tax increase on the wealthy to pay for universal preschool, the defenseless rich people have but one recourse to stop the begrimed hands of tyranny from picking their pockets: whine to the media.
Bloomberg News reporters Henry Goldman and Max Abelson, who apparently has a knack for getting wealthy megalomaniacs to talk, and talk, and talk, ask New York's Most Valuable Humans what they think about Bill de Blasio's plan to raise their marginal income tax rate from around 3.9% to 4.4%.
“It shows lack of sensitivity to the city’s biggest revenue providers and job creators,” said Kathryn Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City, a network of 200 chief executive officers, including co-Chairman Laurence Fink of BlackRock Inc. (BLK), the world’s biggest money manager.
“The business community asks whether city leaders will continue to foster a strong, vibrant economy or will they try to undertake huge social and economic changes, which really are the result of global and national forces, at the expense of city businesses and taxpayers,” she said.
Wage stagnation? It's like the moon and the tides—no time to explain now. That widening inequality gap? El Niño, probably. What's not important is who got favorable zoning or what mayor read Oh, The Places You'll Go! to certain monolithic investment firms before they went to bed. It's out of our hands!
E.E. “Buzzy” Geduld, who runs the hedge fund Cougar Capital LLC in the city and is a trustee of Manhattan’s Dalton School, where annual tuition tops $40,000, said de Blasio’s plan “is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard” and “not a smart thing to do.”
“Almost anyone with a self-perceived degree of affluence will be uncomfortable with de Blasio’s tax ideas,” said Michael Steinhardt, chairman of New York-based asset manager WisdomTree Investments Inc. While growing inequality is troubling, Steinhardt said, “perhaps even more so is the thought that more government spending is the way out of our problems.”
"Almost anyone," but especially billionaire hedge fund "legends" and priceless art-collectors; people like Michael Steinhardt. You know, "anyone."
A recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that every dollar invested in quality early childhood development—most crucially preschool—yields a rate of return of 7 to 10 percent. Universal preschool would reduce the percentage of people who are identified as "poor" by around 6%. These gains accrue over time: more college graduates means higher wages and eventually more tax revenues, plus the savings of having less people on government support. Ben Bernake has called early childhood investment "a very good investment."
Tagged
2013 mayoral election
bill de blasio
job creators
rich people
taxes
vulgarians
why do you even talk to the media
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
ICE agent shoots, injures immigrant man in NYC's Marble Hill, DHS says
The agency says the man is alive and hospitalized.
By
Giulia Heyward
and
Arya Sundaram
Published Oct 8, 2026 at 5:33 p.m. ET
Modified Oct 8, 2026 at 10:32 p.m. ET
Lazy drivers in Prospect Heights lose chance for 1 less day of alternate-side parking
A pilot found that drivers actually complied with alternate-side less when fewer days were in effect.
By
Liam Quigley
News
Lazy drivers in Prospect Heights lose chance for 1 less day of alternate-side parking
A pilot found that drivers actually complied with alternate-side less when fewer days were in effect.
By
Liam Quigley
Jersey City mayor shakes up staff amid $255M budget gap
By
Michael Sol Warren
Bronx residents will be exempt from new Medicaid work rule, state officials say
By
Caroline Lewis
MTA chair accuses Andy Byford, who's leading Penn Station rebuild, of going 'full MAGA'
By
Stephen Nessen
and
Carol Chen
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .