France is great. I visit a few times a year, and the food is fantastic, the museums are amazing, and the day care is free (or heavily subsidized) starting at 3 months old. New York City, where I live, is also great, with pretty good food and architecture. The day care, not so much.
Of course that French day care comes at a steep price. The French — even the middle class — pay much more in taxes. According to the OECD, the average single earner pays 28% of their income in taxes, compared to 24% in the U.S. And that does not include the large consumption taxes Europeans pay.
Now New York’s mayor wants the city to provide free child care starting at six weeks, among other free services. He has also promised New Yorkers someone else would pay for it: their rich neighbors. Last week reality caught up with these plans. If Mayor Zohran Mamdani can’t get the tax increases he wants on high earners and corporations, all New Yorkers will need to pay — in the form of higher property taxes now and, later, a bailout of the pension and health-care funds he plans to raid.
There is a lot to criticize here. The tax on high earners is poorly structured and raises the rate to such a level that it may cause serious economic damage. New York City already spends a fortune on its residents, and provides subpar services. With its existing obligations and variable tax revenue, increasing the budget another 9% is certainly imprudent, to put it mildly.
And yet — even though I am a property owner in New York City, wouldn’t be subject to the millionaire tax, and am kept up at night by the underfunded pensions — part of me hopes this tax comes to pass. Voters elected someone who promised to expand the services the city offers. If they want that, we should all pay for it.