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They framed legitimate success and hard work as something to be ashamed of, and former Jersey City mayor Steve Fulop is not buying it — he’s stepped into the fight for New York’s business community to blunt the populist push to punish prosperity. Fulop told business leaders and reporters that raising taxes in the country’s highest-taxed environment is not a solution and that the private sector will pay the price if the city starts treating success like a public enemy.
Fulop’s voice matters because he’s not an armchair pundit; he built Jersey City into a magnet for investment as a three-term mayor and now runs the Partnership for New York City, representing firms that employ nearly half a million New Yorkers. He’s met with Mayor Zohran Mamdani multiple times and says he’s willing to work where there’s overlap, but he’s also warned the business community is ready to push back when rhetoric turns punitive.
That pushback is urgent because Mamdani’s agenda has already signaled a wholesale reorientation toward a city that blames entrepreneurs for municipal problems — from talk of corporate tax hikes to a record-setting $125 billion budget proposal that critics say leans on the wealthy while undermining job creators. America Reports and other outlets have been relentless in cataloging how the new mayor’s economic posture is energizing Wall Street and Main Street alike to worry about job flight and higher costs for ordinary New Yorkers.
This isn’t just about taxes; it’s about tone and consequence. Fulop and others have sounded alarms about the Democratic Socialists of America’s influence and the fringe rhetoric coming from parts of the left that normalize attacks on Israel and even flirt with antisemitic tropes — problems that, combined with hostile economic policy, make markets and families think twice about staying. The Partnership’s members have told Fulop they fear a cascade: businesses leave, jobs disappear, and the city’s fragile recovery stalls.
Conservatives should cheer a pragmatic former mayor who knows both the street-level realities of running a city and the language of commerce. Fulop’s warning that tax hikes will only raise costs and choke job growth is not a free-market sermon; it’s a plainspoken forecast rooted in experience — and New Yorkers deserve leaders who defend work, reward success, and keep the lights on for small businesses and families, not politicians eager to make scapegoats out of achievers.
Now is the moment for patriotic Americans who value liberty and prosperity to stand with those who protect opportunity rather than celebrate scarcity. The experiment of running a major American city under DSA pressure will be closely watched, and if voters and business leaders unite behind commonsense reforms, they can stop the urge to shame success and restore an America-first approach that rewards hard work and keeps our cities vibrant.
