UnsteadyOwl posted...
Yeah, there are always going to be people who are upset because they expected sweeping change to happen faster than it realistically can, but even if the best he can manage is incremental progress that's still progress and it's better than leaders who are fine with maintaining the status quo and a lot better than leaders who are actively making things worse.
I agree. I know for a fact that Mamdani probably won't make buses free. But if he can come up with a negotiation where bus fare is cheaper than subway fare, that's a win.
He might not raise the taxes as high for ultra high-income earners as he wants to. But if he can even raise them a smidge, that'll be huge, because right now, NYC has so few income tax brackets - the highest income tax bracket in NYC is $90,000 and up for married filing jointly, which means that two DMV workers living in NYC pay the same percentage of their income in taxes as a hedge fund manager, and that's just incredibly stupid any way you sell it.
He might not be able to levy huge taxes against the rich, but there is currently a loophole right now where a lot of wealthy people's ultra-luxury apartments (that were sold for like 50+ million) are taxed at much lower rates than they're actually worth. If he can find a way to stop giving those people a huge discount...
That alone would make him a very successful mayor IMO