Tax the Rich . . . Until They Leave: Mamdani and Rent Control

The Libertarian

The Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin

History, News, Politics

4.7 • 994 Ratings

🗓️ 21 March 2026

⏱️ 27 minutes

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Summary

Richard Epstein takes aim at NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s push for rent control and higher inheritance taxes, arguing that both policies punish landlords, shrink housing supply, and ultimately drive wealth—and people—out of the state. From empty apartments and collapsing incentives to interstate tax competition and capital flight, Epstein lays out a stark warning: policies that sound compassionate in the short run can devastate cities over time. A sharp, unsparing look at markets, incentives, and the high cost of getting them wrong.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Libertarian. I'm Charles C.W. Cook, and I'm here, of course, with the Libertarian himself.
0:17.2	Richard Epstein, Richard, welcome to your end show.
0:20.2	It's always nice to be here with you, Charles.
0:22.5	This is a production of the Civitas Institute at the University of Texas at Austin. All right.
0:31.0	So, we are now well into the age of Mamdani in New York City, and shockara, many of the ideas that he previewed on the
0:42.2	campaign trial. He is trying to put into action as mayor. He wants to hugely raise the
0:50.6	inheritance tax, but the most controversial perhaps of his proposals and the one we're going to discuss this afternoon is rent control.
1:02.2	And inheritance tax.
1:03.7	Sure. We'll start with rent control, though. Then we'll go to inheritance tax.
1:07.5	Okay.
1:08.4	Richard, why is rent control a bad idea? It sounds so nice. Okay. Richard, why is rent control a bad idea?
1:12.5	It sounds so nice.
1:15.1	Well, what happens is it takes two to Congo in respect to a contract, and what rent
1:20.1	control does is it offers an incredibly nice deal, at least a first approximation, to the
1:25.4	tenant, but a ruinous deal with respect to the landlord.
1:28.8	And the situation in New York went from perilous to down like tragic back in 2019, when the
1:35.5	Democrats took over both houses of the state legislature, and Andrew Comor was the governor of the state.
1:41.8	And they put through a statute which essentially tightened up all the
1:45.7	protections for tenants and removed all the protections for landlord. And what happens is the way these
1:51.9	systems work is if there's rent control and you know what it looks like, you can figure out how
1:57.7	much you can borrow on the property and the banks can be relatively secure
2:01.2	in knowing that they could recover. What happens when you put the rent control situation in place,
	...

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