In my book “Rage and the Republic,” I discuss the rise of support for socialism in both the U.S. and Europe, including the election of Zohran Mamdani. The new mayor was elected on many of the same socialist mantras, promising to introduce New Yorkers to the “warmth of socialism.” Now elected, he is discovering the problem of, as Margaret Thatcher put it, “running out of other people’s money.” Mamdani has announced that he may have to implement “painful” property tax hikes, including a potential 9.5% increase that would devastate an already struggling economy and accelerate the exodus of high-taxpayers from the state.
Notably, while Mamdani is suggesting cuts in police and other areas of the budget, he is proposing a $127 billion budget, an increase of $5 billion from last year. His budget would now be larger than those of 47 of 50 states. As noted by the Washington Post, that includes states like Florida with larger populations.
The editors added, “The reality is that Americans may like the idea of ‘free’ stuff — it’s how socialists win elections — but they are less excited about having to pay for it.”
With New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers in Albany balking at increasing taxes, Mamdani is faced with having to actually pay for all of the free stuff that he promised.
When confronted with the fact that the Governor opposes new taxes as the state struggles to keep wealthy citizens from fleeing to Florida, Mamdani responded that it was not important how they paid for the new stuff. The important thing was that they pay for it somehow.
With rent controls, new massive spending programs, and proposed new taxes, Mamdani could be on the brink of causing the greatest exodus since the Red Sea Crossing.
Bottom line
• Mamdani’s proposed NYC budget: roughly $15k per capita.
• Florida’s proposed state budget: roughly $5k per capita.
So on a per‑person basis, Mamdani’s proposed NYC spend is about three times Florida’s proposed state spend per capita
“Notably, while Mamdani is suggesting cuts in police and other areas of the budget, he is proposing a $127 billion budget, an increase of $5 billion from last year.”
Those cuts are real, but Turley is not telling the whole story, as usual.
The preliminary budget proposal is a $22 million decrease in the NYPD’s overall $6.4 billion budget for next year. The biggest change is the cancellation of former Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to hire 5,000 more police officers. This scraps a goal to reach a 40,000-officer force, keeping the same head count capped closer to the current level of approximately 35,000. The Mamdani administration plans to “significantly reduce current vacancies,” which may involve removing funding for thousands of currently unfilled positions. That’s waste in budgetary terms. Eliminating waste is a good thing, right?
Mamdani has appointed Chief Savings Officers (CSOs) for every agency, tasking them with finding 2.5% in savings for fiscal year 2027. It’s essentially Mamdani’s version of a DOGE style approach to budget cuts. Republicans were big fans of that kind of approach to budget reductions. Turley didn’t mention that particular bit of important information.
While these specific cuts are coming, fiscal analyses point out that the NYPD’s overall funding remains “essentially flat” at roughly $6.4 billion because the budget also allocates $421 million to cover previous underbudgeting for items like aging police vehicles and surveillance technology.
So the cuts Turley mentions are not really serious in terms of affecting safety and security in the city.
The $5 Billion increase he wants is tax revenue from imposing a two-percentage-point increase on personal income taxes for millionaires and a 4% corporate tax hike. That requires Governor Hochul and the NY legislature to pass. That explains the “threat” of raising property taxes which Mamdani can impose without them. The wealthy and ultra wealthy can afford to pay the PIT tax which Mamdani knows. The difficult part is convincing the NY legislature and the Governor.
Universal suffrage leads to catastrophic economic consequences.
How does allowing people who literally can not govern their own life have a vote in how the city/state/country is governed lead to “good governance”?
Mamdani’s has much in common with 21st Century Republicans.
Both big spenders but Republicans practice “borrow & spend” – much worse than Mandani’s tax & spend policies (where he pays for his spending).
So far Trump has added more to the national debt (per year) than any other president, more per year than any Democrat. Trump added $8.2 billion to the national debt in only 4 years of his first term.
@Anonymous
Ah. The old, ‘first post’ ploy, so for a little while, your comment is the only one people will see, and inflammatory and disingenuous, so more dollars are guaranteed through subsequent posts.
Dig down another level in the comments, folks.