Things got heated on CNBC when Senator Elizabeth Warren and host David Faber went head-to-head over taxes and New York City’s economic future. The fiery exchange played out live on Squawk on the Street, where Warren defended raising taxes on the wealthy and Faber pushed back hard.
“You mentioned Mamdani and you are in New York, sort of speaking on behalf of him to a certain extent,” Faber said, referring to Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani. “New York does not operate in a vacuum. It competes with other cities. And so this idea of somehow raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers, who, by the way, would point out pay roughly 15 percent of their income right now between city and state. Raising taxes on them will simply drive them away.”
Faber didn’t hold back. He pressed Warren on whether hiking taxes would actually hurt the city more than help, pointing out that wealthy residents and businesses have the option to pick up and move elsewhere. “Shouldn’t the focus of a mayor be on delivering services to the constituents of the city and doing that by raising the most revenue as possible without chasing businesses and the high-income taxpayers out of the city?” he asked. “Because they can go to Austin. They can go to Dallas. They can go to Atlanta. They can go to Nashville. This is your issue. It’s a national issue, not a local issue.”
Warren pushed back, saying the real crisis was affordability. She claimed New Yorkers can’t even afford the basics like groceries and housing. Faber agreed that affordability is a problem but challenged her on the solution. “But raising taxes in order to do it – why is that the answer?” he asked, reported Fox News.
Warren didn’t miss a beat. “Oh dear, are you worried that billionaires are going to go hungry?” she shot back with sarcasm.
Faber quickly responded, “No, I’m worried that they’re going to leave and spend their money elsewhere!”
Warren argued that billionaires always make that threat but rarely follow through. Faber, though, brought receipts. “They’ve left. And Goldman Sachs, when they create new jobs, they do it in Dallas. And Blackstone won’t build a new headquarters. I can go on and on,” he said.
Still, Warren stuck to her argument, saying New York needs to be a city where people can actually live and work, not just billionaires. Faber emphasized that her plan could shrink the economy. “If you deal with them in that way, by what is always your backup, just tax them more. They will leave,” he warned.
He added, “I think many people would disagree to the extent that by raising taxes and making it more onerous for businesses that create the jobs, that create the revenues on which taxes are – tax revenues come from, that you’d ultimately be dealing with a smaller pie. He may succeed by driving everybody out. Rents will go down.”
Warren kept her message laser-focused. “If you think that the best way to run city government or national government is to start with the billionaires and say, what will work best for you? Vote Republican,” she said. “But if you don’t, then let’s make the city more affordable. Let’s make the country more affordable. And the way we do that, let’s focus on housing. Let’s focus on groceries.”
Faber also questioned Mamdani’s qualifications to lead a city as complex as New York. “You think somebody who has absolutely no experience, a 33-year-old socialist, is going to succeed as the mayor of New York?” he asked.
Warren didn’t hesitate. She said yes and called his win in the primary “democracy at work.”