NYC City

A brief lesson on how to get elected mayor can be gleaned from Mamdani’s NY City elections. He was a city councilman polling in single digits when he gave a campaign speech outlining his proposals. His plan included free buses, free childcare, five city owned grocery stores, a rent freeze on 200,000 apartments, a $30 minimum wage, a millionaire surtax and construction of 100,000 low-income houses. The estimated cost of these items is $17 billion. It turns out that the mayor does not have the authority to raise the city individual or corporate tax so his only source of new income is raising property tax. The governor has stated she would not be financing NY City programs. The city unlike the federal government cannot legally borrow money to fund operating expenses.