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Brian Lehrer: It's The Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Monday morning politics, it's how we start the show most weeks, and mostly, we start with our eye on national politics. No shortage of things to talk about there like with Donald Trump posting a photoshopped picture of himself, threatening Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg with a baseball bat last week. With a baseball bat. Then on Friday, sure enough, Bragg received the delivery of white powder in the mail along with the death threat.

You've probably heard that. You've heard about that pattern of misconduct, so no need to repeat it all morning as three separate grand juries in three separate states consider three separate kinds of criminal charges against Trump. Remember, these are not individual DAs who make these decisions. They're grand juries of multiple US citizens. We'll see if these grand juries indict, and we'll let you know if they do this morning.

We begin today with Monday morning politics New York style because this Friday night, this coming Friday night is supposed to be the deadline for the annual New York state budget, budget spending on this or that, [unintelligible 00:01:20] so many major policy items that define our times are actively in play. There are contentious provisions to address crime and criminal justice reform. There are ones that address the affordable housing crisis that underlie so much of the state's inflation problem and also helps drive crime.

The New York City suburbs are especially fighting Governor Hochul's proposal on that, rising healthcare costs too, and the city's plan to force city retirees into Medicare Advantage plans. I wonder if Albany will take that one on. There are pushes for better pay for essential jobs now facing labor shortages, home health aides, and lawyers who represent children in family court. For example, we talked about the family court issue last week. There's the future of the MTA facing a fiscal crisis because of declining ridership.

Now, maybe you've heard that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg is spending millions of his own money on flyers and other communications intended to support some of Governor Hochul's more conservative positions like putting more police on the streets, expanding charter schools at the expense of regular public schools, and not raising taxes at all on the wealthiest New Yorkers. The budget is due Friday night with all these things in play. We'll get a take now from Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani of Queens. The heart of his district is Astoria.

Among other things, Assemblyman Mamdani is the first South Asian man to serve in the New York State Assembly, as well as the first Ugandan, and only the third Muslim to ever be in the Assembly. He became a naturalized citizen in 2018, his bio page says. Before being elected to office, he was a foreclosure prevention counselor. Very relevant experience to what's going on in New York today. Assembly Member Mamdani, thanks for coming on, and welcome to WNYC today.

Zohran Mamdani: Thank you so much for having me. It's a privilege.

Brian Lehrer: I'll jump right into a bill that you're sponsoring that I guess Michael Bloomberg wouldn't like. Do I see correctly that you're proposing an MTA package that would freeze fares today and make buses free over the next four years, and fund those things by raising taxes on companies making more than $2.5 million in profits a year in New York State?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. I am the prime sponsor in the Assembly of the Formula Three Act, which is the centerpiece of our Fix the MTA campaign. It would do exactly those things. In addition to freezing the fare and making buses free, we'd also fund frequency so that we could expect train service six minutes or better, and that is something that New Yorkers deserve.

Brian Lehrer: You compare New York's corporate tax rate to New Jersey's as a starting point for whether this would be fair, whether this would drive companies out of the state, and those kinds of questions. Want to make that comparison for us?

Zohran Mamdani: Absolutely. New Jersey is run by a former Goldman Sachs executive, and yet they have a corporate tax rate of 11.5%. Meanwhile, here in New York State, we have a corporate tax rate of 7.25%. Oftentimes, when you talk about raising the corporate tax rate, the typical rejoinder you'll hear is, "Oh, those companies will move their headquarters out of state," but the way that tax law works here in New York is that it is a tax based on any engagement with that business. If New Yorkers continue to buy the product of that business, it doesn't matter where the headquarters is. That company will still be taxed.

Brian Lehrer: Would all that money go to the MTA, and would it be enough to eliminate its deficit and pay for the expansions and services that you're proposing?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. What we're looking at right now is in both the Assembly and the Senate proposals of the budget proposals known as the one-house proposals. There are proposals to increase taxes on corporations that make more than $5 million in annual profits as well as individual New Yorkers who have an annual income of more than $5 million. Those two taxes as well as the commitment to use the revenue that comes out of downstate casinos in the long run, that would resolve the MTA's operating budget deficit.

The critical thing is that this year, unlike many years prior, there's an agreement amongst the governor, the state Senate, the Assembly, that we must resolve the MTA's operating budget deficit. The difference of opinion thus far has been, do we put a band-aid on it or do we actually resolve the core or the root cause issues that brought us to this moment?

Brian Lehrer: Now, the New York Post had an article about various tax hikes that says Assembly Democrats are proposing to fix the MTA that the Post frames it's not just targeting the rich the way you framed it. They say it'd be a tax on Netflix and Hulu subscriptions and a package delivery service tax and on Uber rides. Is that the same package of bills that you just described framed another way, or is that an accurate description of something else that you're considering in the Assembly?

Zohran Mamdani: That's not an accurate description of the bills that I am part of proposing as part of our coalition, but it is a description of what the overall Assembly and Senate are proposing at this time. There are proposals in the Assembly about levying a surcharge on package deliveries as well as on streaming companies. The revenue from those taxes, we're talking about $100 to $200 million versus the overwhelming amount of funding for resolving the MTA's deficit crisis would come from these taxes on corporations and in high-income individuals, which would bring back maybe $700, $800 million, things of that nature.

Brian Lehrer: Do you support all those tax hikes? What do you say to some people who might be listening and thinking, "Well, wait, I'm not a rich person. I'm not a rich corporation, and I'm going to get dinged here by the progressives in the state legislature"?

Zohran Mamdani: I would say you're not getting dinged by the progressives because this is very much not part of any proposals we've put forward. I think that in resolving the budget crisis, we do have to take a wide set of options. I personally am not in opposition to even what the governor proposed around the payroll mobility tax. I do think the core of it has to come from progressive taxes that are levied on the highest earners. I think that taxes on streaming, taxes on packages, to me, that does not address the real core issue here, which is that the MTA is a public good and a public good should be funded by taxing the wealthiest among us, not through service charges.

Brian Lehrer: I think I hear you describing a real divide between the progressives in the legislature which includes yourself and others, and other legislators in the majority, and they are Democrats too, over what kinds of tax hikes would be the most progressive and the most fair to all New Yorkers. Am I hearing that right?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes, I would say there are a wide variety of opinions on how to do this. The thing that gives me great optimism is that these are different ideas on the range of regressive to progressive, but all of them reject the most regressive idea of all, which is a fare hike, because Governor Hochul has proposed raising the fare to $3 as a means of resolving the MTA's operating budget deficit. Both the Senate and the Assembly have rejected that and instead have opted to fund keeping the fare at $2.75.

Brian Lehrer: There are people who say, "Look, it makes sense to have a structured fare increase every year or every few years that matches inflation, and that's one of the ways to secure permanent, reliable, predictable MTA funding." Why do you think that's wrong?

Zohran Mamdani: I think that's wrong because that puts the cost of a public good on the backs of the working-class New Yorkers who need it the most. I think it's an economic model that we have to consign to history. What we need to do is fund the MTA, not through service charges, but the way that we fund education, the way that we fund sanitation, understanding it as a government responsibility that should be funded through taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers.

Brian Lehrer: If you're going to freeze fares on the buses in subways, would you also endorse the crackdown on fare beating because many people cite stats that say fare beating is really on the rise and it's not being enforced as it was at times in the past?

Zohran Mamdani: I think that a lot of the focus on enforcement of fare beating misses the point in that they're often-- Enforcement of fare beating what it actually looks like in a practical sense is the placement of more cops on subway platforms, by bus stops. There have even been interviews of operators who have said that the addition of these kinds of police officers isn't something that actually makes them feel safer. Actually, in a moment when New Yorkers are desperate to get to work on time, desperate to get to wherever they're going, the addition of police officers and the new required announcement that operators make, adds to an additional few seconds at every single stop which keeps people from getting to where they want to go.

Brian Lehrer: It means that you are willing to have the MTA continue to take the hit. I'm sorry, I don't have the number in front of me, but Janno Lieber the Head of the MTA, and many others say, "Look, this is becoming a lot of money." Is it half a billion dollars a year? Maybe you know the number. It's becoming a lot of money that really contributes to the MTA's deficit. You're willing to just put all that money out there off the table to not enforce fare beating anymore?

Zohran Mamdani: I think if the enforcement of that fare beating is through the addition of more police officers, then yes, I don't think that we need to be doing that at this time. I think part of the other ways that you can ensure that people are paying their fare is also by having more workers who work within the subway station. We've seen over the last few decades a decline in how many employees of the MTA are actually within the booths or walking around the booths, and we've just seen additional cuts and adjustments to that.

I think that part of it is making sure that we're presenting subway stations where there is an active presence of people who worked there, and that gives a sense of a lifeblood of New York City. I would say no to police officers being added to the range of solutions being proposed at this time, but I would say yes to having more operators and more service workers at the booths and around the stations.

Brian Lehrer: Listeners, how do you think New York should fund the MTA and anything else about any of these budget deadline debates taking place in the New York State legislature this week and between the legislature and Governor Hochul that you want to weigh in in on or ask a question about for Democratic Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani from Astoria? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. I'm curious how you see the Michael Bloomberg factor right now. I read that he's spending $5 million on his new taxes and other items campaign that you might consider on the more conservative side of the Hochul agenda.

I've gotten three of these glossy flyers with Hochul's picture myself in the mail in the last week, and then I learned that this is a Bloomberg-funded blitz that's out there. I'll read one of them. It says, "Kathy Hochul's budget puts New York families first." Then it lists five items. "Education. Investing in quality education." I'm told that's the charter school's agenda. "Crime. Putting more police on the streets." Well, that's explicitly the opposite of what you just said you're for. "Healthcare. Expanding access to affordable healthcare." Maybe you're all for that.

"Safety. Getting help for those struggling with mental illness." Maybe you're all for that. The final one is, "Affordability. Not raising income taxes." That goes against what you just called for, I think, for raising income taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. What do you make of the Michael Bloomberg factor here, and is he having an effect? He spent a lot of money on his presidential campaign [chuckles] and it didn't buy many votes, so are his millions having an effect here from what you could tell?

Zohran Mamdani: From what I can tell, no, they're not having an effect. He may have spent $5 million, but for many people in Albany, we remember Michael Bloomberg as the largest donor to the state Senate Republican campaigns until they lost the majority here in 2019. We remember him for saying in 2014 that other Democratic Party donors in New York should not give to the Democratic Party here. We remember him today on the fifth day of Ramadan for being the creator of the Demographics Unit, a unit in the NYPD that illegally surveilled Muslims up and down New York City on the basis purely of our faith.

This is not someone that Democrats in Albany are looking to for advice. I think so often as we've seen with Mike Bloomberg is that that mailer is a complete mischaracterization of so much of what is on offer in the governor's budget. We talk about affordability. The governor is talking about affordability purely in the context for the wealthiest New Yorkers. If you're speaking about working-class and middle-class New Yorkers, the governor is proposing to increase the fare to $3. The governor is proposing to increase tuition at SUNY and CUNY.

The governor is proposing in many ways to make what is already an extremely expensive life here in New York City even more expensive versus the proposals that we have on offer which would keep the fare at $2.75 and also make 10 bus routes across New York City free. Doing so is something that would make life more affordable but it would also make life safer for New Yorkers because we've seen that when bus routes are made free whether in Boston or Kansas City or DC or the entire State of Connecticut that there are real changes to both the safety of those bus riders as well as the perception of safety. For us, we're driven by the facts of these issues and not the fiction that is so much of what animates Mike Bloomberg.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. Jack on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani from Queens. Hi, Jack.

Jack: Yes. Hi. Good morning, Assembly [unintelligible 00:16:15]. I just wanted to comment that we did have an MTA tax for a very long time. People who make more money than the rest should definitely pick up the slack, so I'm not sure why that wouldn't be revived. Lastly, I'll comment that the outer boroughs are just woefully anemic in terms of transportation. We're subsidizing subways in Staten Island when we have a rickety old train that literally dates back to Cornelius Vanderbilt's days, that line. It should be fair across the board. If we're going to pay and people with money will be subsidizing which is fine, let's give it to the entire city.

Brian Lehrer: Jack, thank you. What do you at the foot of the RFK Triborough Bridge say to that caller near the Verrazzano?

Zohran Mamdani: Well, I first of all very much appreciate his belief that the wealthiest New Yorkers should be paying for this, and I also very much agree that outer-borough New Yorkers need to be seeing results from investments that we make in Albany. The beauty of the proposal on offer right now about free bus routes is it's two bus routes per borough, so Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Manhattan, each one would get two bus routes that would be free. One would be targeted towards riders that are the most disadvantaged in the borough, and the other would be targeted towards bringing riders to a commercial thoroughfare in the borough.

I think that as we talk about the fare freeze and as we talk about free buses, the missing piece that we're also advocating for is frequency. That's something that I would really link to the outer borough experience of taking the train because so often when you're in Manhattan you can get that six-minute service, but the further out you get from Manhattan, the longer the delays are. Whether you're waiting for the R in Bay Ridge or you're waiting for the N in Astoria, this is a reality for many working-class New Yorkers. We need to bring a uniform experience of the subway, one that is reliable and one that is six minutes or less.

Brian Lehrer: Another thing that the MTA says is a big reason for the current operating deficit is simply the amount of hybrid work that's going on right now, fewer people riding on the weekdays, paying less money obviously into the total collection of fares. Are you advocating that people be forced to return to the office more as a way to save the MTA?

Zohran Mamdani: No, I'm advocating that the MTA provides a service that gets people to want to take the train and the bus. Right now, we are stuck at about 65% of pre-pandemic ridership. What we see is that there's actually been more of a rebound on weekends rather than weekdays, and what we need to do as a state and the guardians of a state authority that is the MTA is provide reliable service that goes beyond the old understanding of 9:00 to 5:00 being the only times that we really want to have rush hour service. We need to have peak service during off-peak times.

We need to have peak service during the weekends. I live in Astoria, and like many Astorians, when I want to take the train on the weekend, I pop my head into the Steinway Subway Station. I see the predictor clock telling me that the next R train is coming in 15 minutes, and then I have to decide on an alternate mode of transportation. We need to bring six-minute service and that peak hour service to the weekends, to the late nights, to the New Yorkers who keep our city moving.

Brian Lehrer: Chris in Woodside, you're on WNYC with Assembly Member Mamdani. Hi, Chris.

Chris: Hi. Good morning, Brian, and good morning, Assembly Member Mamdani. Thank you for taking my call.

Brian Lehrer: Sure.

Chris: Good morning. Sorry. I just wanted to comment. I see that you are a co-sponsor on the Good Cause Eviction bill that's currently being debated in the Assembly. As a property manager of the building that my granddad actually built in Woodside, I do want to express my concern about this bill, especially in the way that it's going to ultimately hurt even more so outer-borough buildings, smaller generational owners like myself, and the way that it's written because it basically will lock in rents either at 3%, I believe, at maximum or 1.5 times the CPI, the--

Brian Lehrer: Consumer?

Chris: The inflation rate. If you do the math, if you do some research, and please correct me if I'm wrong, and you guys have plenty of journalists over there, go through the Rent Guideline Board's percent cost change over the year. They do it every year. They have it reported there. It's easily available. Compare that to the rate of inflation. You will actually find that the majority of years over the past 22 years, the building costs rise even more so than the formula that's being come up with, which I don't know why they come up with that formula than that.

Unfortunately, when inflation rises, one of the leading causes of inflation are actually construction and building costs, more so with our older buildings. Unfortunately, I can only see this-- I've read a very good op-ed recently that, ultimately, we're probably going to end up selling out to big corporations or foreign money because we can't hold on to these buildings at the small tiny margins that we're basically being allowed there thanks to the New York State Assembly and Senate.

Brian Lehrer: Chris, before I even get a response for you from the Assembly member, let me ask you a follow-up question because-

Chris: Certainly.

Brian Lehrer: -when we talk about housing and housing policy and any kind of rent regulations on this show, we always get a call from somebody like you who represents a small landlord. Then the conversation that people are having in their heads I think very often is, "Well, yes, that person is really sympathetic," but the big corporate landlords who are buying up so many units and making so much money and jacking up the rents and buying units on speculation and all this stuff that's also going on you seem to be advocating for exactly the same policies.

Do you think that there could be a different set of rent laws or other housing laws for landlords like you are talking about versus the big corporate ones? Because I don't think that's what we have now.

Chris: Honestly, Brian, I don't know because I don't know how you would come up-- where do you set your standard division? I consider myself small. Other people might consider myself big. The building that I manage is a 56-unit building. Some people would consider that very large. I consider that as a small building really in comparison to the large corporation. Just the amount in gross rent still is different based on how many units are rent stabilized and the amount of years.

To be honest with you, Brian, in my view, one of the better things that would help immediately to address more units available, which will always cause the potential prices to come down is to just go back, revisit the 2019 laws, and especially potentially reverse the allowing to have vacancy allowances, especially based on amount of years. I'm sure you've heard it. Lots of us, and I do, I have units that I cannot renovate because the $60,000 that I would need to do in order to do a proper renovation, which would mean also bringing everything up into lead codes and various other codes doesn't allow me to be able to actually put the money into the apartment.

What's worse about that is, and I'll tell you, I have a fantastic contractor that I work with all the time. Ever since the rent laws in 2019 were passed, he lost work immediately. Immediately.

Brian Lehrer: Right, because you can't increase the rent on the new tenant beyond a certain point. All right. Chris, thank you for all of that. We appreciate your call. Keep calling us. Assembly Member Mamdani, what are you thinking?

Zohran Mamdani: Well, he is very much correct that I am a co-sponsor of the bill known as Good Cause Eviction. I'm a very proud co-sponsor of that. I think that one thing that Chris misses out on is that I represent Astoria, and in my neighborhood from last year to this year, the rent has gone up 34%. I live in a one-bedroom apartment. Those have gone up 40%. When you were asking, Brian, about the possibility of creating a law that would differentiate between larger-scale corporate landlords and smaller-scale landlords, I would argue that Good Cause Eviction is exactly that law in that Good Cause Eviction exempts owner-occupied one to three-family units.

So many of the homeowners that I worked with as a foreclosure prevention housing counselor, they would buy a home and it would be a two-family. They would rent out the other unit to help pay for their mortgage. They would be exempted from this. What we are talking about is landlords who do not live in those buildings or who live in a building that is like Chris's 56 units. These are larger-scale buildings. The law as it is written right now, it would allow for a 9% increase because it's 1.5% of CPI and CPI is most recently 6%.

That is something that I think is still quite generous towards landlords and towards real estate holders. If you're thinking about this within the context of the housing crisis, this is absolutely something that we need to get done this year because, right now, New Yorkers are being priced out of the most foundational aspect of their life, which is their housing.

Brian Lehrer: We're going to continue in a minute with Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani from Astoria. Again, folks, if you're just joining us, the context is this is budget deadline week in Albany. It doesn't mean they're going to meet the deadline, but they do most years. March 31st when the clock strikes midnight this Friday night, Saturday is April 1st and they don't want to say, "April Fools, we have a budget. No, we don't really have a budget." Many major policy items are in play. We've been talking about some of them.

We can take more of your phone calls on the New York State budget item of your choice. 212-433-WNYC. We can say a little bit of lobbying welcome here for Assembly Member Mamdani. 212-433-9692 or tweet @BrianLehrer. We still haven't touched on two of the biggest ones having to do with healthcare and having to do with criminal justice reform. Stay with us.

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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. As we're talking about items in play in the New York State budget which is supposed to be done by Friday night at midnight, the end of March, the beginning of April, 212-433-WNYC is our phone number, though our lines are jammed right now. You can get in when other people finish up. It's nice to be doing something that people care about. Right Assembly member?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes, very much so. I think it comes from an understanding that so much of what makes up daily life in New York City is actually controlled by Albany and controlled by this $227 billion annual budget.

Brian Lehrer: Let me ask you about a couple of particular items and then we'll go back for more phone calls. On the issue of healthcare, I have been hearing the ad campaign that is at least running on commercial radio stations, I don't know where else they're advertising, in support of better pay for home health aides of which there is a shortage in New York State right now we are told. Is that something that's actively in play?

Zohran Mamdani: It is something that is in play, and it's in play because so many legislators understand that you cannot have some of the most critical work that is being done, which is done by home healthcare aides be at the same level of minimum wage. We cannot have it such that our state is saying that working fast food and taking care of an elderly New Yorker is worth the same to our state. We need to have it such that there is an incentive to do this work that is so difficult, that is so needed. That's one thing that has definitely been a priority of the legislature across both houses, both last year and this year.

Brian Lehrer: That would raise the minimum wage for home health aides, in particular, from $15 to something more?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. I think that as we advocate to raise the minimum wage at large and do so in a much more ambitious manner than the governor proposed, our proposal, and that of many in Albany is to raise it to be on $21 before tying it to inflation. While the governor proposes to tie it to inflation almost immediately, we also need to increase the wage for home healthcare wages beyond that. We need to continue to incentivize that kind of work as well as support our social safety net hospitals, which do so much of the work of keeping underinsured and uninsured New Yorkers on their feet, and right now are really looking down the barrel of a serious deficit that could really impact their ability to continue providing this kind of care.

Brian Lehrer: That overall minimum wage hike, I think I saw it as $21.25 an hour for New York City in particular, where the cost of living is the highest, but it would gradually raise from $15 to $21.25 over the next four years or so. Is that it?

Zohran Mamdani: Yes. It wouldn't be something immediate but it would be something commensurate with the fact that for so many New Yorkers, they're being priced out of so many of the goods that they need to take care of their life and that of their loved ones. We're talking about housing. We're talking about energy. We're talking about respectively the cost of the fare as well. People need relief and we need to give it to them through a minimum wage increase.

Brian Lehrer: Home health aides are one category of essential workers where there's a shortage now that we're being told is related to pay. Another one and we did a separate segment on this last week, and I'm glad I have an opportunity to talk to you who's in the legislature, who might be doing something about it, lawyers who represent children in family court. As I don't have to tell you, family court is such a vital institution in New York as everywhere where children who are the subjects of domestic violence, minors who are arrested for crimes and are facing the juvenile justice system, the law on paper provides for them to have independent representation.

If the two parents are having a custody battle, the child gets their own lawyer. There's a shortage of those lawyers because the pay, the advocates say, is so low compared to other things in the law that people are walking away from those jobs and so they have children going to court without representation. Is this something that you're aware of, and is this something that the legislature is going to deal with?

Zohran Mamdani: It is something I'm aware of, and I really want to thank you and the program for covering this previously. This is something that in the one-house budget proposal, the Assembly has added $52 million to support the cost of an hourly rate increase for children panel attorneys, so something that would be along the lines of $164 per hour. I think that it gets back to the same issue that we were talking about with home healthcare aides, which is that we cannot have it such that some of the most critical work that is being done in New York State can only be done at a loss to those who do it.

They need to be compensated in a manner that is commensurate with the necessity and the importance of the work that they do. Within the Assembly proposal, this is something that gets towards that point, and now over these next seven days or as you've said maybe longer than that, it's a question of whether we can get this into the final budget with the governor and with the Senate.

Brian Lehrer: One other healthcare thing and I don't know if this is being taken up in Albany, but we did a segment last week on the plan by New York City to force its city employee retirees into a Medicare Advantage plan as opposed to letting them stay on traditional Medicare. The retirees are very unhappy about this. They say this will limit their choice of doctors because it will be like a managed care plan and they were promised something else in their years working for the city.

I was surprised last week, to be perfectly honest, when we had both the City Council Speaker and the New York City Comptroller on the show, Adrienne Adams and Brad Lander, progressive politicians who were reluctant to explicitly take the retirees' side. They were saying, "Well, these are complicated issues." The comptroller was waiting to see what the contract actually said when it comes back. The speaker was saying, "Well, it's not really a council item to get between the mayor and the unions and budget negotiations." I'm just curious if the legislature is going to take this up.

Zohran Mamdani: I don't see the legislature taking this up in these budget negotiations, and I think a lot of that comes from the fact that the focus in a lot of the organizing and the sense of where the next decisions will come from will be at the city level. I know that there was a hearing at the City Council level. I know that the mayor has made various pronouncements on this. It hasn't been something that has been part of budget negotiations here in Albany.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take another call. Thomas in Cobble Hill, you're on WNYC. Hi, Thomas.

Thomas: Thanks very much. I wanted to talk specifically about alcohol taxes in New York State, specifically wine taxes. There's a connection where I think there's needed funding for mental health and addiction services. I also want to make a connection to transportation. I was surprised to learn that New York State has one of the lowest wine taxes in the country. It's less than half the comparable rates in New Jersey and Connecticut. It's less than two cents per serving. Also, New York City also has a minuscule tax on beer and liquor but not on wine.

I understand it speaks to the power of the wine industry in New York state. Finally, Senator Comrie, I think, has legislation to modestly raise this tax. Lastly, Washington, DC several years ago increased some of their alcohol taxes and they used the funding to pay for public transportation, I guess the rationale being that if you improve public transportation, there'll be less likely people to drink and drive. I wonder if the Assembly member would reach out to his colleague Senator Comrie and see if they could make a common cause. Again, there's very low wine tax in New York State. Thank you.

Brian Lehrer: Assemblyman?

Zohran Mamdani: On the one hand, asking a Muslim during Ramadan if we should increase taxes on wine should be a pretty easy answer, but I think that generally, I do oppose levying a lot of taxes that are in effect going to be paid by working people. I think that where we should really be getting our revenue to fund public transit, to fund so many of our other essential public goods should come from taxing the wealthiest among us as opposed to taxes that you'll see being paid by low-income, middle-income New Yorkers.

Brian Lehrer: You brought up Ramadan a couple of times. Do you want to say anything about your own practice or how your faith informs your advocacy and public policy?

Zohran Mamdani: Absolutely. First, I'd like to clarify for everyone that Muslims cannot drink water during Ramadan. It is a very common question that we are asked.

Brian Lehrer: During the day, right?

Zohran Mamdani: During the day, yes, from sunup to sundown, not even water. One of the things for me that makes Ramadan the most beautiful month of the year is that it's a month about solidarity. It's a month where you do not distinguish amongst those that you know and those that you don't know, amongst the needy and the wealthy. So often growing up you become accustomed to going to the mosque and seeing there's an Iftar, there's a breaking of the fast where everyone is invited. There are no names, no documentation. Nothing of that required.

I think that it is quite timely to have this month being something that takes place during the budget process because the budget process should in effect be one that is an illustration of solidarity. I think that in my politics, as well as in those of many of my colleagues, we're trying to make sure that we don't simply pass the buck on to working-class New Yorkers. In the way that we would provide Iftar for a needy New Yorker at the end of the day, we should also provide a transit fare that is actually affordable.

We should provide bus routes that are free that they can take that can get them to their destinations and stop pricing them out of being able to even go for job opportunities or healthcare appointments. I think that it is also a particularly good time to stand in opposition to Mike Bloomberg and his agenda, given his history of engagement to be very generous with the Muslim community across New York City.

Brian Lehrer: One more call and it comes from your district. Ben in Astoria, you're on WNYC with the Assembly member from Astoria, Zohran Mamdani. We have 30 seconds for you, Ben. Hi.

Ben: Hi, Brian. I love your show. Great show. I have a question for Assemblyman Honorable Mamdani. I applied for the state grant for small business owners. I own a small hair salon in Astoria. I was denied because I didn't meet the requirements of a 25% loss. In September, while I was in Morocco visiting my family, I received an email that Governor Hochul waived that requirement. I updated my documents, but there's no money left. Is there any additional money in the budget for that?

Brian Lehrer: Are you familiar with the-- Ben, hang on. Don't go away, Ben. Hang on a sec. Maybe you can help this constituent of yours individually if we take his contact information off the air, Assembly member? Sorry to put you on the spot for that, but maybe you can say something on the air real briefly too.

Zohran Mamdani: Absolutely. First of all, I would love to get Ben's contact information. Just for Ben and for anyone listening, if you're facing an issue with state government and you live in my district of Astoria in Long Island City, please do call my office at 718-545-3889 because that is something that we would absolutely love to work with you on. There's a constant drumbeat in Albany about securing additional funds for small businesses, but right now, it's very much in the air as to what that number shakes out to be in these next seven days.

I would love to hear from Ben specifically and to get him the relief that he and so many other small business owners across Astoria in New York City deserve.

Brian Lehrer: Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, Democrat from the Astoria area of Queens primarily, good luck this week. I don't know if you're going to lose a lot of sleep as you try to make the budget deadline by Friday night at midnight. Thanks for talking through so many issues with us. Keep coming on the show. Okay?

Zohran Mamdani: Thank you so much, Brian. It was truly a pleasure.

 

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