New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is facing intensified scrutiny over how he plans to pay for his signature campaign promise: free bus service across the five boroughs. While the policy was a major focus throughout his campaign, the mechanics of funding it remain unresolved as he prepares to take office.
During an interview with PIX11, anchor Dan Mannarino pressed Mamdani on how he intends to finance the proposal if Gov. Kathy Hochul refuses to raise taxes. Mamdani said the “clearest ways” to secure the money would be through higher corporate taxes or additional personal income taxes on residents earning more than $1 million annually. Still, he argued that “the most important fact is that we fund it, not the question of how we do it, but that we do it.”
Mamdani’s campaign platform included proposals such as “Raising the top state Corporate Tax rate to 11.5 percent” and “Adding a 2 percent New York City Income Tax for anyone making more than $1 million a year.” The mayor-elect, a self-described democratic socialist, repeatedly presented free bus service as a core policy goal of his bid for City Hall…