Only in New York City could someone run for mayor on a platform that reads less like public policy and more like an Oprah Winfrey giveaway episode. “Free buses! Free childcare! Rent freezes! Massive unions-only housing projects!” You half expect Zohran Mamdani, New York City’s incoming mayor, to run into City Hall wearing a cape and a sash that says “Mayor of Free Stuff.”
There’s just one small issue: the mayor of New York City doesn’t actually have the authority to do most of the things Mamdani promised. The man campaigned as if he were taking over a European socialist utopia, not a city already suffocating under the weight of taxes, debt, and bureaucracy. Yet, Mamdani talks like Bernie Sanders on a caffeine bender, confidently announcing that he will fund all of these dreams by — wait for it — taxing people more. In fact, he specifically pitched taxing white people more. He actually said that. Someone should probably let him know that intentionally taxing based on race isn’t bold or visionary. It’s illegal.
Even setting aside federal discrimination laws, Mamdani’s plan doesn’t survive contact with basic reality. In New York, the mayor doesn’t control taxation. The state does. All revenue increases must go through the governor and the state legislature, and even Kathy Hochul — hardly a champion of fiscal restraint — rejected calls to raise income taxes last year. When you’re too radical for Kathy Hochul, you’ve sailed past progressive paradise and docked somewhere near “economically illiterate.”
So, without state approval to raise taxes, Mamdani’s plans begin collapsing like a Jenga tower in an earthquake. To make matters worse, the state constitution requires a balanced budget every year. No spending money you don’t have. The city’s ability to borrow is capped based on property values. The mayor can propose whatever budget he wants, but ultimate authority belongs to Albany. In simpler terms: Mamdani can make promises. Albany can say no. And Albany usually says no.
Still, Mamdani insists that the buses of New York will become free for everyone. Free, as in… no one pays anymore. The Metropolitan Transit Authority — the folks actually running the buses and subways — reports to the state, not the city. The mayor appoints only four of the 23 board members. That’s not a voting bloc. That’s a suggestion. Meanwhile, the head of the MTA has already signaled that a free bus plan is financially absurd. Fare revenue helps pay back infrastructure bonds. Bondholders have veto power. And bondholders don’t care about the “spirit of equity.” They care about being paid.
The kicker is that the MTA chair also pointed out that New York is already struggling with fare evasion. When you remove the fare entirely, you don’t reduce fare dodging — you just legalize it and then hemorrhage money. But Mamdani can at least create new bus lanes, since that falls under the city’s control. Amazing. All the socialist ambition in the world, and what he can definitely do is paint more lines on asphalt.
Then there’s the rent freeze — the part of Mamdani’s platform that actually stands a strong chance of happening. Rent in New York is regulated by something called the Rent Guidelines Board. The mayor appoints the board members, and because several terms have expired, Mamdani could replace nearly the entire board immediately. This is the one lever of real power he has. And if landlords weren’t already popping antacids like Tic Tacs, they might want to start. Bill de Blasio managed to freeze rent multiple times. Courts upheld it. Mamdani will walk in with more ideological enthusiasm and more power over the board. If you think housing is impossible to find now, just wait until the city makes it financially suicidal to be a landlord.
But the real pièce de résistance of Mamdani’s vision is city-owned grocery stores. Yes. Government grocery stores. Because when you think efficiency, hygiene, and wise use of taxpayer dollars, naturally you think of the DMV. Cities in Kansas, Florida, and Missouri tried this public grocery store concept, and all of them collapsed into money-losing disasters. Apparently when produce becomes the responsibility of bureaucrats, taxpayers pay more and vegetables rot faster.
Mamdani also wants to build 200,000 affordable housing units, all union labor, all government directed. Cost: $100 billion. Funding: unicorns, apparently. He claims the city will use municipal bonds and “public land as subsidy,” which sounds less like a plan and more like something scribbled on a napkin during a college dorm debate at 3 a.m. Bonds require state approval. Big spending requires the comptroller’s blessing. And comptrollers love nothing more than reminding mayors that calculators exist.
The most dramatic promise is free childcare for every child from six weeks old to five years old, with childcare workers paid like public school teachers. It may shock Mamdani to learn that free childcare isn’t actually free. Someone pays. And since he can’t raise taxes without state approval, we’re back to square one.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a progressive mayor without a pledge to reshape policing. Mamdani wants social workers handling crime scenes. He floated a new “Department of Community Safety,” a bureaucracy designed to reduce reliance on the NYPD. We tried this experiment already. It was called 2020. Bail reform turned violent crime into a growth industry. Progressive mayors slashed police budgets, then acted stunned when criminals responded with… more crime.
And finally, Mamdani vows to make New York “Trump-proof” — as if the president sits in the Oval Office plotting, “How do I ruin Brooklyn today?” If a mayor could “Trump-proof” his city, blue strongholds like Chicago and Portland wouldn’t have spent years locked in legal battles over immigration and law enforcement.
Mamdani ran on fantasy. Reality is about to hit him like a Times Square taxi.
It’s going to be spectacular. Pass the popcorn.