Mark Ruffalo wants New York Governor to 'tax the rich' — critics say he should donate first

Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo is facing backlash after calling on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to "Tax the Rich." In a Feb. 24 social media post, the Avengers actor promoted “Tax the Rich & Demand an Affordable NY: Albany Takeover,” a march and rally held at the state capital on Feb. 25. In the video, Ruffalo described how childcare costs have soared due to President Donald Trump's policies, and claimed the only way to uplift the working class is to tax the rich. However, Ruffalo claiming that "they[the rich] can handle it" drew backlash online, with many asking the actor to step up and donate first.

In the video posted on February 24, the 58-year-old actor spoke about how rent is crushing New Yorkers and how childcare now costs an average of more than $20,000 a year. He also added that Trump's policies "keep making billionaires richer, while working families endure cuts to essential services." Interestingly, he even referred to the New York City Mayor's campaign and mentioned how just last year, over a million New Yorkers came together to vote for Mayor Zohran Mamdani's affordability agenda.

With that done, the actor directly addressed the New York governor, saying, "Gov. Kathy Hochul has a choice to make. You protect working families, and tax the rich, or make Trump's cuts worse by forcing everyday people to pay more. Sixty percent of New Yorkers, like me, agree that we should tax billionaires and corporations to fund childcare, housing, and transit. Working people shouldn't be the ones always stuck with the bill". Finally, he promoted the march and called for support, saying, "They can handle it. Trust me."

The Instagram post was soon flooded by a ton of comments, with many slamming the actor for his alleged "hypocrisy."  "Why don’t you donate some of your millions of dollars?! You don’t know what the working class is even like. You’re a joke," a user @yourstrulystephhhh wrote, blasting Ruffalo. The video was also shared on X, where users criticized the actor's claims. "I love how he says 'we should tax billionaires.' This exposes the sickening hypocrisy of these leftie celebrities. He’s a millionaire - so, don’t tax him more - he’s not 'wealthy'. No, no, it’s those nasty billionaires - who already pay tax and create wealth in the economy BTW,' wrote user @OneCynicalWorld. 

Many also criticized Ruffalo's argument, claiming the idea of taxing the rich was flawed and counterproductive. "'They can handle it' is basically an admission that government can’t control its own spending, so the solution is to target whoever has the deepest pockets. It’s a dependence on a revenue hostage," wrote @RockChartrand in a post on X where he had reshared the actor's video. He then went on to explain his point further, stating, "And once you signal that success makes you the fallback ATM for political mismanagement, you don’t just punish productivity. You incentivize less of it, or you incentivize moving it elsewhere. It’s not a serious argument about sound governance. It’s a shrug at incompetence paired with confidence that someone else will be forced to absorb it."

Meanwhile, there were some who supported the idea, thanking Ruffalo for spreading the message. "That’s straight to the point…the ultra wealthy aren’t going broke from paying their fair share. Taxation isn’t punishment, it’s about funding schools, hospitals, infrastructure, and a society that actually works for everyone," wrote @kingBuchyk as a reply to the X post. 

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