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Soaking the rich — as Mamdani and other lefties want —won't pay for a supersized NYC gov't

Soaking the rich — as Mamdani and other lefties want —won't pay for a supersized NYC gov't

New York Post5 hours ago

Mayoral candidate and Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani vaulted into contention in this month's Democratic primary by pledging to supersize city government. 'He knows exactly how to pay for it, too,' his campaign brags.
Does he, though?
Mamdani's platform — free child care, more public housing and an end to bus fares or CUNY tuition, just to name a few — wouldn't come cheap.
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New Yorkers can have all of it, he promises, for the bargain-basement price of $10 billion in new revenues — less than a tenth of the current city budget.
Mamdani is very much lowballing his agenda's price tag. Yet even if he weren't, he still wouldn't likely be able to deliver.
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Most of his plans rely on a pair of tax hikes on corporations and millionaire earners, totaling $9 billion. He doesn't have authority to implement either.
Should his cocktail of social-media savvy and socialism land him in Gracie Mansion, he'd need Gov. Kathy Hochul and state lawmakers to OK these 'revenue raisers.'
New York's local governments, the city included, can't set their own personal or business income-tax rates. Between the city's 1975 brush with insolvency, and its more recent fiscal profligacy, that's understandable.
Here's another good reason: Candidates sometimes don't understand themselves how taxes work — and Mamdani is clearly one of them.
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Mamdani regularly compares the top state corporate tax rates of New York (7.25%) and New Jersey (11.5%). These are essentially the state tax rates on businesses profits related to their activity in a state. Mamdani says he'd 'match' New Jersey's rate.
On the one hand, that would be a windfall—for Albany, which collects the state corporate tax, not for New York City, where most is generated.
Yet Mamdani doesn't get that New York City's biggest firms already pay far more than they would on the other side of the Hudson.
Before anyone cuts a check to Albany, city businesses pay the Business Corporation Tax, at least 6.5% for small businesses and as much as 9%. On their remaining income, companies pay the state Corporation Franchise Tax, plus a surcharge to support the MTA.
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All-in, the top state-local rate for businesses in the city is generally just over 17.4%.
For them, 'matching' New Jersey would be a meaty tax cut.
But say Albany implemented Mamdani's $5 billion hike (after all, lawmakers pushed unsuccessfully for a smaller corporate tax increase this year). That would push the top combined corporate tax rate to a stratospheric 22%.
Nor would the proceeds flow automatically to the five boroughs. It would still be 'Albany's' money.
Mamdani would need to persuade lawmakers and the governor to spend the proceeds his way. He may find his friends in Albany aren't so friendly when money's involved.
Compare that to North Carolina, which is phasing out its corporate tax. It's no coincidence that state has been scooping up new corporate headquarters.
Or Pennsylvania, which is in the process of reducing its top corporate rate from 10% percent in 2022, to 8% this year, toward the goal of 5% in 2031.
Soak-the-rich rhetoric aside, even Albany can't ignore the explosion of remote work and the danger of pushing major employers to shift operations or direct expansions elsewhere.
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This isn't the only facet of tax policy Mamdani doesn't get.
His other big tax increase would have city residents with incomes over $1 million pay the city an extra 2% of their earnings (on top of their Medicare, Social Security, paid family leave and state and federal income taxes).
A growing body of data show people with high incomes and residences in other states limit their time in New York to reduce their exposure to the bigger bite taken by state taxes.
Here's yet another wrinkle: New York taxes people on their activity in the state, even if they don't live here. By contrast, since 1999, the city levies an income tax only on its residents — and, as with the business taxes, only with Albany's blessing.
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Plenty of people tolerate this extra tax, which tops out at just under 3.9%. But a two-point jump would measurably affect behavior.
A couple making $1 million would avoid about $53,000 in city taxes by moving to Westchester or Nassau — up considerably from the $35,000 they would save now.
That's effectively an $18,000 bonus for every millionaire earner who decamps for the 'burbs.
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If Mamdani prevails, his followers will abruptly encounter fiscal realities they are ill-equipped to manage — mainly because they've been told to ignore them.
Ken Girardin is a fellow of the Manhattan Institute.

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Donald Trump Says 'Bring in the Troops' as LA Riots Escalate
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Protests intensify in Los Angeles after Trump deploys hundreds of National Guard troops

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tensions in Los Angeles escalated Sunday as thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to President Donald Trump's extraordinary deployment of the National Guard, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Many protesters dispersed as evening fell and police declared an unlawful assembly, a precursor to officers moving in and making arrests of people who don't leave. Some of those remaining threw objects at police from behind a makeshift barrier that spanned the width of a street and others hurled chunks of concrete, rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at California Highway Patrol officers and their vehicles parked on the closed southbound 101 Freeway. Officers ran under an overpass to take cover. Sunday's protests in Los Angeles, a sprawling city of 4 million people, were centered in several blocks of downtown. It was the third and most intense day of demonstrations against Trump's immigration crackdown in the region, as the arrival of around 300 Guard troops spurred anger and fear among many residents. The Guard was deployed specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated. Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said officers were 'overwhelmed' by the remaining protesters. He said they included regular agitators who show up at demonstrations to cause trouble. Starting in the morning, the troops stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted 'shame' and 'go home.' After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street. Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon. Nearby, at least four self-driving Waymo cars were set on fire, sending large plumes of black smoke into the sky and exploding intermittently as the electric vehicles burned. By evening, police had issued an unlawful assembly order shutting down several blocks of downtown Los Angeles. Flash bangs echoed out every few seconds into the evening. Governor says Guard not needed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom requested Trump remove the guard members in a letter Sunday afternoon, calling their deployment a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' He was in Los Angeles meeting with local law enforcement and officials. The deployment appeared to be the first time in decades that a state's national guard was activated without a request from its governor, a significant escalation against those who have sought to hinder the administration's mass deportation efforts. Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass blamed the increasingly aggressive protests on Trump's decision to deploy the Guard, calling it a move designed to enflame tensions. They've both urged protesters to remain peaceful. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety.' But McDonnell, the LAPD chief, said the protests were following a similar pattern for episodes of civil unrest, with things ramping up in the second and third days. He pushed back against claims by the Trump administration that the LAPD had failed to help federal authorities when protests broke out Friday after a series of immigration raids. His department responded as quickly as it could, and had not been notified in advance of the raids and therefore was not pre-positioned for protests, he said. Newsom, meanwhile, has repeatedly said that California authorities had the situation under control. He mocked Trump for posting a congratulatory message to the Guard on social media before troops had even arrived in Los Angeles, and said on MSNBC that Trump never floated deploying the Guard during a Friday phone call. He called Trump a 'stone cold liar.' The admonishments did not deter the administration. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in a statement. Deployment follows days of protest The arrival of the National Guard followed two days of protests that began Friday in downtown Los Angeles before spreading on Saturday to Paramount, a heavily Latino city south of the city, and neighboring Compton . Federal agents arrested immigrants in LA's fashion district, in a Home Depot parking lot and at several other locations on Friday. The next day, they were staging at a Department of Homeland Security office near another Home Depot in Paramount, which drew out protesters who suspected another raid. Federal authorities later said there was no enforcement activity at that Home Depot. The weeklong tally of immigrant arrests in the LA area climbed above 100, federal authorities said. Many more were arrested while protesting, including a prominent union leader who was accused of impeding law enforcement. The protests did not reach the size of past demonstrations that brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops. The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor's permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Trump says there will be 'very strong law and order' In a directive Saturday, Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' He said he had authorized the deployment of 2,000 members of the National Guard. Trump told reporters as he prepared to board Air Force One in Morristown, New Jersey, Sunday that there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not gonna get away with it.' Asked if he planned to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles , Trump replied: 'We're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country.' He didn't elaborate. About 500 Marines stationed at Twentynine Palms, about 125 miles (200 kilometers) east of Los Angeles were in a 'prepared to deploy status' Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Northern Command. ___ Offenhartz reported from New York. Associated Press writer Michelle Price contributed to this report from Bridgewater, New Jersey. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . 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