New Yorkers were intrigued when tax documents revealed that the mayor’s earnings amounted to roughly $145,000 last year.
What captured even more attention was that his 28-year-old wife, first lady Rama Duwaji, contributed just $10,000 to their total income.
Duwaji, who recently faced a racism controversy, is a visual artist recognized for her politically charged works highlighting Middle Eastern themes. Her portfolio includes collaborations with The New Yorker, Vogue, and Tate Modern.
The couple’s modest earnings can be attributed in part to Duwaji’s minimal contribution—only $10,010 before taxes and business expenses from her visual design enterprise, as indicated by their tax return.
After accounting for expenses such as $500 on ‘art supplies,’ her net income dwindled to $8,860, significantly below the 2025 federal poverty line for individuals, which stood at $15,650.
Duwaji’s limited earnings were bolstered by Mamdani, who earned $131,926 before taxes from his Assembly salary, in addition to $1,600 in royalties from songs he produced under his hip-hop moniker, ‘Mr. Cardamom.’
‘Rama is kind of like if a tradwife was a socialist lmao,’ someone wrote on X in reference to her low contribution to the couple’s household income.
The couple also reported roughly $1,600 in capital gains, which Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec said came from a mutual fund.
New Yorkers were interested to discover that their city’s mayor Zohran Mamdani and his wife took home roughly $145,000 last year after his tax filings were unearthed
Mamdani’s 28-year-old wife, first lady Rama Duwaji, contributed just $10,000 to that total
Mamdani campaigned in 2025 on making the city more affordable by expanding the social safety net.
He has frequently argued that higher earners should contribute more – primarily through increased taxes – while also encouraging charitable giving.
Yet despite earning above the area median income, Mamdani and his wife reported no charitable contributions on their 2025 tax return.
Pekec said Mamdani did donate to charities but did not itemize those contributions because the couple took the standard deduction.
She was unable to immediately provide details about the donations she said they made last year.
Duwaji’s scandal arose in March after tweets from her social media account were unearthed. The posts showed her using the n-word and a gay slur, as well as hurling insults at Israel.
Duwaji, a Texas-born Syrian-American, addressed the tweets on Wednesday during an interview with online publication Hyperallergic, her first public interview since her husband became mayor in January.
‘When a tabloid recently published old tweets I wrote as a teenager, I felt a lot of shame being confronted with language I used that is so harmful to others; being 15 doesn’t excuse it. I’ve read and seen a lot of what others have had to say in response, and I understand the hurt I caused and am truly sorry,’ she added.
Duwaji works as a visual artist -known for her political pieces focusing on Middle Eastern themes, having worked with The New Yorker, Vogue, and Tate Modern
Mamdani and Duwaji’s relatively low income is partly due to the first lady’s measly contribution – only $10,010 before taxes and expenses from her visual design business last year, according to their tax return
The 28-year-old allegedly made a post to X in 2013 which used the N-word
The posts were uncovered by the Washington Free Beacon, which said it linked them to her using facial recognition software.
The discovery comes shortly after she made headlines for liking posts that celebrated the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, including one that called reports of sexual violence a ‘mass rape hoax.’
But it appears her history of sharing hateful content stretches back as far as 2013, when she apparently used a vile racial slur in a tweet to a friend at the age of 15.
The post reads: ‘Helllll yeah, n****. Super duper genius* excuse you.’
Other posts made from the account that year include blaming ‘white people’ for the creation of Al-Qaeda and claiming that Israelis should not be allowed to live in Tel Aviv.
