Daeth and Taxes
March 14, 2026

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has proposed that the exemption from NY state's death taxes be dropped from $7.1 million to $$750,000. He has also proposed that the death tax rate be raised from 16% to 50%.

When running for office, he talked about taxing the rich, saying he didn't think it was unreasonable to ask them to pay a little bit more, but these proposals nakedly demonstrate his true desires.

In some parts of NY, $750K is not an outrageous home price, especially as you get closer to NYC. It's easy to imagine that, when parents die, their children being stuck with a mid-six-figure tax bill resulting from the parents paid-for house alone. If they couldn't pay the taxes outright and wished to retain the property, they'd need to take out a mortgage against it...just to pay the tax bill. And remember, their parents paid for that house with their after-tax earnings. Seen another way, the parents worked possibly for decades to pay for their home with what they had left after paying various taxes their entire lives and, after they died, the State would want half the value of that home.

But wait, some might say, when the parents bought that home, it likely didn't cost them $750,000...it might have been a small percentage of that, perhaps less than a quarter. So, the value has "increased", but not as much as it may appear since, along with any increase in the intrinsic value of the property, the effect of inflation should be factored in; the value of the dollars used to buy the house initially is far less than the value of those dollars today.

But let's keep it simple and fool ourselves into believing the current market price of the house is driven by property value appreciation alone. If so, and it's not the original price paid by the parents for the house that's being taxed, then isn't this "death tax" really a wealth tax, where a tax based upon the appreciation of wholly-owned assets is levied upon the owners by the State? Hey, I thought wealth taxes were only for billionaires?

But a communist or socialist might argue that the children didn't own the house, didn't pay for it; it was given to them and taxation is based upon transaction....when an asset is transferred from one entity to another, a taxable event has occurred. But is it really a taxable transfer when parents die and will their property to their heirs? This is not a business transaction or trade, this is family gifting to family or other loved ones. We have been told our entire lives that taxes are always owed, in nearly every circumstance imaginable...but do we ever stop to wonder why? I wonder why the State believes it's entitled to anything it all in these situations.

The Federal government and the states that levy death taxes do allow some "generosity" with the money of others: the exemptions usually run into the millions before taxation begins to kick in. But that's not what Mayor Mamdani is proposing for NY; he wants 50% beginning at $750k. Again, I wonder why he feels the State derserves anything but, having read "1984", I already know the answer; hardcore communists and socialists see the situation exactly the opposite from my veiwpoint and wonder anyone should be entitled to anything when a loved one dies, since all property is property of the state.

There are many who feel proposals like the mayor's will never get passed. They may be right. But I have a feeling that one day, somewhere in this country, an outrageous proposal like this will make it through and after it happens once, it will swiftly happen everywhere. Those who scoff at the very idea might recall there are people still alive today who lived during a time when the payroll taxes we have gotten used to did not exist and most people paid no income tax at all. And they might remember something else. how the truth was revealed with this proposal of Mayor Mamdani; his proposal wan't a billionaires tax or even a millionaires tax and when leaders like him someday feel 50% of $750k leaves too much on the table, they'll want it all.