New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani pushed back on Wednesday after Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos said that even doubling the taxes he pays would not help "that teacher in Queens," escalating a debate over wealth, public spending and how the city should fund basic services.

Mamdani Defends Teachers In Queens

"I know a few teachers in Queens who would beg to differ," Mamdani wrote on X, responding to a CNBC interview in which Bezos defended his tax record and criticized politicians who blame billionaires for broader affordability problems.

Bezos said he pays "billions of dollars in taxes" and is willing to debate whether wealthy Americans should pay more. "If people want me to pay more billions, then let's have that debate," he added. "But don't pretend that that's going to solve the problem. You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not going to help that teacher in Queens. I promise you."

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Bezos Says Spending Is Real Problem

Bezos said politicians often use the "age-old technique" of choosing a villain and pointing fingers rather than fixing root causes. He argued that a nurse in Queens making $75,000 a year should not pay more than $12,000 in taxes. "How about we start by having the nurse in Queens not pay taxes?" he said.

During the interview, Bezos called billionaire vilification a distraction and said the country has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. He pointed to New York's roughly $44,000 per-student spending, saying it exceeds that of other large cities such as Houston and Chicago.

Billionaire Tax Debate Expands Further

The Amazon founder also criticized a Mamdani video filmed outside Citadel CEO Ken Griffin's New York home, which promotes a pied-à-terre tax on luxury second homes. Bezos said the tax itself could be "a fine thing" but argued Griffin "isn't a villain" and should not have been singled out.

The Bezos family pledged up to $150 million earlier this month to expand early childhood education and universal childcare in New York City. This exact cause has been a cornerstone of Mamdani’s administration, which campaigned heavily to establish a free, year-round “2-K” universal childcare program for children starting at age 2.

Read Also: Jeff Bezos Says He's No Tax Villain, Gives Billions — Thinks Some People Should Pay 0%

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