Mamdani fires back at Bezos over Queens teacher tax remark

“You could double the taxes I pay, and it’s not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you,” Bezos said in an interview on CNBC earlier Wednesday.

Mamdani responded on X: “I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ.”

Bezos, meanwhile, pushed for tax cuts for low-income Americans.

He called for eliminating federal income taxes on the bottom half of earners, telling CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on “Squawk Box” that the top 1% of taxpayers pay about 40% of all tax revenue, while the bottom half pay 3%.

“I don’t think it should be 3%,” Bezos said. “I think it should be zero.”

In 2023, the bottom half of taxpayers had an adjusted gross income of nearly $54,000 in 2023, according to the Tax Foundation, which is funded by conservative interests, citing the most recent IRS statistics. Households earning in the top 1% brought home at least $676,000 of income that year.

As of September 2025, starting salaries for New York City teachers were $68,902 for those with a bachelor’s degree and no prior teaching experience, and $77,455 for those with a master’s degree, according to NYC Public Schools. 

Those salaries are set to rise in September 2026 to $71,314 and $80,166, respectively.

The feud between Bezos and Mamdani puts a sharper edge on the mayor’s tax-the-rich message, which has been central to his push to fund city services and address New York’s affordability crisis.

Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, are backing a proposed pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes worth $5 million or more, after the mayor dropped a broader proposal to raise property taxes on many homeowners.

Mamdani has said the city’s first-ever pied-à-terre tax would generate $500 million annually, but New York City’s comptroller has warned the revenue could come in lower, around $340 million to $380 million annually, once property owners change their behavior.

“I think that the pied-à-terre tax is a fine thing for New York to do,” Bezos said in the interview.