NEW YORK (Diya TV) — JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon publicly criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s tax proposals on Thursday, arguing that an anti-business posture would damage rather than help the city. “People think that somehow being anti-business is going to help the city — it’s not,” Dimon said. His comments followed a recent meeting with Mamdani, who has been pushing for tax increases to plug the city’s budget shortfall.
The remarks mark a notable shift in tone from Dimon, who last October — before Mamdani won the mayoral election — told Fortune that if Mamdani became mayor, he would call him and offer his help. The two met for the first time this past Monday at JPMorgan’s new headquarters at 270 Park Avenue, where discussions covered reducing government waste, cutting red tape tied to development projects, and expanding public-private partnerships. JPMorgan described the meeting as “constructive” with a “friendly” tone. Dimon’s public criticism came just days later.
Mamdani, who ran and won as a democratic socialist, has made taxing the wealthy a central pillar of his administration. His proposals include a 2% personal income tax increase for those earning $1 million or more, bringing the rate to 5.88%, and a 1.8% corporate tax hike on financial firms, lifting their rate to 10.8%. He told state lawmakers in February that the city’s budget gap had narrowed from $12 billion to $7 billion, but argued that New York remained on a financial ledge and that the wealthiest individuals and most profitable corporations should contribute more. His preferred tax increases, however, require approval from Albany, and Governor Kathy Hochul has rejected those proposals.
In his most recent executive budget, a $124.7 billion plan released in May, Mamdani stepped back from an earlier threat to raise property taxes and chose not to raid city reserves. But the political friction with New York’s business community has not eased. Earlier this spring, Mamdani posted a video on Tax Day filmed outside Citadel CEO Ken Griffin’s Manhattan penthouse, promoting a proposed pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes worth more than $5 million whose owners do not live full-time in the city. Griffin called the video “creepy and frightening,” referencing the 2024 killing of a corporate executive near the same block, and said the mayor had made clear his firm should double down on its expansion in Miami.
Dimon is not alone in his concern. Apollo Global Management, which manages approximately $900 billion in assets and has long been headquartered in Manhattan, has decided to open a second business hub in either Florida or Texas, with the firm expecting most of its future hiring to occur there rather than in New York. Steve Fulop, CEO of the Partnership for New York City, framed the warnings from Dimon and others as a signal that should not be dismissed: “Jamie Dimon grew up in New York City. There’s probably no bigger cheerleader here. So when he’s telling you there are risks to the city, people would be wise to listen.”
Not all observers share that alarm. Cornell sociologist Cristobal Young has argued that the threat of a wealthy exodus driven by tax increases is largely overstated, with data suggesting millionaires rarely relocate primarily because of tax policy. Yale law professor David Schleicher described the pied-à-terre tax as a modest measure that falls well short of Mamdani’s broader campaign pledges, noting: “If this is all there is to the grand Mamdani tax vision, New York’s rich can be pretty happy.”
The debate is expected to intensify as New York’s budget deadline approaches at the end of June, with Mamdani’s preferred income and corporate tax measures still pending state legislative action and his administration under pressure from both the financial sector and his progressive base.
