The phrase “tax the rich” can be “just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs”, according to the New York City billionaire Steve Roth, who said that the top 1% should be “praised and thanked”.

Speaking on his company’s quarterly earnings call on Tuesday, Roth, the CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, expressed his support for fellow billionaire and the CEO of Citadel, Ken Griffin, who was singled out in the 15 April announcement by New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, of the state’s first “pied-à-terre” tax on second homes valued at more than $5m. In a video, Mamdani announced the policy in front of Griffin’s penthouse, which he said was purchased for $238m.

“We are all shocked that our young mayor would pull this stunt in front of Ken’s home and single him out for ridicule,” Roth said. “This was both irresponsible and dangerous.”

Edit: Mamdani’s video that sparked this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLKZnVB4F9k

  • RunawayFixer@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago


    Source: https://www.moralambition.org/stories/tax-fairness-explainer

    Also, the above graph compares averages vs averages. The average of the top bracket is made up of some very rich people who accept that paying taxes is a fair thing to do, and some who try to contribute as little as possible by evading as much as possible. Because he’d prefer us to not talk about this, I have the suspicion that Mr Steve Roth falls into the 2nd category.

  • Vegafjord demcon@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    I dont think it is a slur. To be rich is even to this day associated with good qualities.

    in other words, the word rich doesnt reflect reality and we have to weed it out

    I think grabber is more suitable, because they grab property away from the commons.

    Release the grip!

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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      8 days ago

      Yeah, heading towards just taking it all, and leaving them destitute, and if they don’t like it, they can think about it in prison, if they’re lucky to survive that long.

      They enjoy their wealth at the pleasure of the Citizens, and those who don’t handle their wealth responsibly, will have it removed.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        7 days ago

        Leaving them destitute is much more polite than the alternative too. That basically requires them to comply, which I assume they won’t. If it comes down to other actions being taken, because the systems aren’t doing their job, it’ll require some level of violence.

        • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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          7 days ago

          How easy or violent it has to be is entirely up to them. If they want violence, we can oblige them, but they’ll still lose their money, and their family may not survive it.

  • volore@scribe.disroot.org
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    8 days ago

    I feel like Mr. Roth has forgotten that being taxed is the alternative we came up with to beheadings for the upper class when they got too rich and powerful.

    • SolarMonkey@slrpnk.net
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      8 days ago

      Yeah… tax the rich is the nicest thing we could be saying… they’ve definitely forgotten…

  • crusa187@lemmy.ml
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    8 days ago

    Perhaps he would prefer “Eradicate the rich.”

    (Through even more taxation, of course.)

    • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      Or guillitines. Or Luigi. Look, I’m not really picky on how we make the streets flow with a river of their blood. Dealers choice really.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    8 days ago

    "He will learn over time that growing a tax base is a winner and raising taxes is a loser … and that the hard-working 1% are allies, not enemies.”

    Translation: “we’re still working on finding ways to make him do our bidding”

  • skisnow@lemmy.ca
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    7 days ago

    Just to highlight that as a real estate magnate, his entire empire is built on rent-seeking, i.e. accumulating wealth by the hoarding of a limited resource, without having created anything of value.

    This billionaire did not create a billion dollars of value for society, even indirectly; he only took it from others.

  • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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    8 days ago

    He views the Rich as a separate ethnic group.

    from wiki:

    An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of humans who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Attributes that ethnicities believe to share include language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment.

    He’s mostly right, but that doesn’t invalidate criticisms of the Rich.

    • StarryPhoenix97@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      That’s like admitting they live in a completely different world. That’s what blows my mind. By implication, he’s admitting the wealthy exist in a completely separate reality. That the shadow economy is real, and that the average person is effectively a second-class citizen. It’s an acknowledgment that it is, and maybe always has been, us versus them. I’ve always said they exist in a completely different world, one that operates on different rules than the rest of us. More than just the obvious. Everything you posted, culture, norms, ancestry, history. They will never change to help you. They will always operate from a place of exploitation. It’s their culture. They made it so.

    • JcbAzPx@lemmy.world
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      8 days ago

      I think it’s more that he views anyone not rich as not human. Only him and his rich friends are actually people and the plebeian masses should defer to them as such.

    • liuther9@lemmy.world
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      7 days ago

      I’ve met some people with this mindset of “i dont give a single fuk if it is not good for me”. They also tend to praise billionares and bad dictators. Makes me really curios how their brain works

  • NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net
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    8 days ago

    “TAX” is going to be the softest, most palateable verb that will be done to them, the alternatives are a little less polite.

  • _haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works
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    8 days ago

    “We want you to pay your fair share of taxes to maintain the system you enjoy the benefits and protection of.” = slur?

    Eat all of my shit and hair, Steve Roth. You sound like a real turd of a human being.