00:00New York City Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani has promised big things for the Big Apple, but can he follow through?
00:08If you had free buses, you'd be able to board and disembark from any one of the doors on that bus.
00:14Governor Hochul and I share a commitment to universal child care.
00:17Along with free buses and child care, Mamdani has promised to raise the minimum wage, open government grocery stores, and more.
00:24But those plans would cost billions of dollars, and getting that money is where Mamdani could run into some issues, because it's not entirely up to him.
00:33In reality, if he had wanted to accomplish some of these big-picture items, he would have had to run for governor.
00:40What he wants to do for New York City mostly requires both the approval of the governor and the state legislature.
00:48Mamdani's plan to raise that money is to increase the top corporate tax rate and levy a tax increase on people making over a million dollars a year.
00:58But any changes to the tax rates would require approval from state lawmakers and Governor Kathy Hochul.
01:04He wants the state legislature and the governor to enact $9 billion worth of annual taxes.
01:11Without those tax hikes, he can't implement his program, his universal child care, his Department of Community Safety, a couple other big-ticket free buses.
01:24He can't do those things without that state revenue.
01:28So the governor and the legislature would have to consider, is this a risk that we want to take with the state's tax base?
01:38Mamdani does have some support from the state legislature, but Governor Hochul has signaled she's not inclined to raise taxes.
01:46Hochul has also pumped the brakes on the free bus plan.
01:50City buses are actually controlled by a state agency.
01:53It would be the governor who would have to give the green light to her MTA chairperson to say, okay, we can do free buses.
02:00And also the state would have to come up with this $700, $800 million in funding from fare revenue that would be lost.
02:10And that's not the only issue on the free bus plan.
02:13Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, would they also want their own free bus system?
02:18So there's more to think about than just, okay, the New York City buses can be free.
02:23You're kind of opening the door to an entirely free transit system because the same arguments that poor people take the bus, that also holds for the rest of the state's transit systems.
02:35Mamdani also has to deal with the New York Financial Control Board.
02:38That board started back in 1975 when the city nearly went bankrupt.
02:43We just increased spending much faster than the tax revenues came in.
02:48By the 1970s, we were starting to have a cratering tax base as we saw flight to the suburbs, major corporations leaving New York City for the suburbs and for southern states.
03:01So we just ran out of money.
03:03That board still exists, but mostly just to make sure the city presents a balanced budget every year.
03:09So will Mamdani really be able to keep his big promises?
03:12Realistic view is that he purposely asked for a lot more than he knew that he was going to get.
03:20So just go out and ask for a wild $9 billion figure.
03:24And then he would say that he's happy with getting half of that, you know, a $4 or $5 billion tax increase.
03:32While many have painted Mamdani as a socialist, Jalina said the one idea Mamdani has not floated is the one thing that most resembles true socialism.
03:42He could have run on raising the property tax.
03:44The property tax in New York City is the only tax that the city can raise by itself.
03:51Mamdani would only need permission of the city council, not state legislature or the governor.
03:57And that would be closer to a traditional view of socialism, where everybody pays more, but everybody gets more benefits.
04:07But that was not the platform that he ran on.
04:10He ran explicitly on redistribution from wealthier earners and from businesses.
04:16And for that, he does need the state.
04:18Mamdani will take office on January 1st.
04:22For Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli.
04:23For more unbiased updates, download the Straight Arrow News app or go to san.com.
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