‘Dems Are Literally Seizing Private Property and Violating the Bill of Rights’: Carl Higbie [WATCH]

Conservative commentator Carl Higbie accused New York’s government of effectively raising property taxes without legislative action by revaluing buildings, a practice he said has dramatically increased tax burdens for private property owners while allowing elected officials to deny responsibility.

Higbie said the tactic relies on reassessing property values rather than formally increasing tax rates, which he argued allows politicians to claim they never voted to raise taxes.

“New York socialist governance has raised taxes for private ownership over the last many years here in Manhattan, but very craftily, by raising the assessment on the building, not the actual tax rate, so they can go back on their reelection campaigns and say, no, no, I never, I never raised taxes on you,” Higbie said.

He described how the process works, using a hypothetical example to illustrate the impact on property owners.

“Here’s how they’re doing. Check this out. Let’s say your building was previously worth, I don’t know, $40 million, it’s a building in New York City. Okay, you’re paying taxes on that assessed value now, without passing a law or having a hearing or anything, some bureaucrat with a clipboard just shows up and says, Hmm, yeah, I think this building is now worth $80 million now your tax burden has doubled without them raising the taxes through the legislature,” Higbie said.

According to Higbie, the reassessments are carried out administratively, without public debate or approval from voters.

“But rather simple stroke of a pen in a dark office by somebody that was never elected,” he said.

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Higbie argued that these actions are not random but strategically targeted.

“And they’re conveniently doing it to buildings that they want to buy. And by they, I mean big government, perhaps in districts they need more Democrat votes,” he said.

He contrasted what he described as Democratic tactics with Republican restraint on procedural norms.

“You see this game while Republicans, look the Republicans are out there. Let’s not break governmental norms like tossing the filibuster or something, while Republicans are whining about that, Democrats are literally seizing private property and violating the Bill of Rights so they can move voters into their needed districts,” Higbie said.

Higbie also criticized the broader tax structure in New York City, arguing that high taxes are used to fund expansive social programs while discouraging productivity.

He pointed to the scale of public assistance and local taxation.

“Districts and cities like New York, where half of New York City is also on Medicaid as well, funded by more taxes like the nearly 9% city in sales city and state sales tax or congestion tax or dog tax or income tax, or whatever surcharge fee or license they can gin up, paid for by people who do produce in order to transfer that wealth to buy votes,” he said.

He argued that Democratic leaders justify these policies by claiming they are necessary to address inequality, but said the outcomes show otherwise.

“But here’s the issue left. Just keep saying they need to fix, they need to do all these like social programs, in order to fix the inequity problem, or it will get worse,” Higbie said.

“The problem is they’re already doing this in places like New York, but then everything’s all just getting worse anyway, not better.”

Higbie said critics who point out these trends are dismissed rather than debated. “But then when I point that out, they’re like, You’re a racist,” he said.

He concluded by arguing that voters continue to support policies that drive residents out of major cities.

“And the majority of voters who elect people like ma’am Denny never stop to think, hey, maybe what Democrats are doing doesn’t work, and that’s why everybody is leaving places like New York. Nope. They never understand that,” Higbie said.

WATCH:

“Democrats are literally seizing private property and violating the Bill of Rights so they can move voters into their needed districts.”@CarlHigbie exposes the potential politics at play in a plan supported by incoming socialist NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani. pic.twitter.com/193y6Yi4mG

— NEWSMAX (@NEWSMAX) December 31, 2025