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Garrison Davis (3:00)

This is It Could Happen here. I'm Garrison Davis reporting from the New York State Capitol. In the early early morning of Wednesday, February 25, I rode on a bus from the snowy streets of the Financial District in Lower Manhattan up to Albany, the New York State Capitol. The bus arrived at the Armory arena shortly before 10am Inside there was coffee and breakfast signs and posters Tax the Rich embroidered beanies and over a thousand New Yorkers gathered to tell Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature that it's time to tax the rich. After recovering from the morning bus ride, a rally was held in the Armory arena hosted by New York City Councilman Chi? Ose, with speakers from local unions like the Nurses Association 1099sciu, the taxi workers Alliance, Immigrant Justice Organizations, Childcare, Housing and Education Advocates, as well as the co Chair of the New York City dsa. Following the speeches, the crowd practiced chants and protest songs ahead of the march to the Capitol. The rally at the Armory just wrapped up now. A thousand or so people are marching on Washington towards the State Capitol Building in Albany. The crowd is now in front of the Legislative Building. There's some New York taxi cabs honking outside. The New York DSA marching band A little bit louder. We need funding for our future. What?

CJ Toledano (5:00)

We are the workers.

Garrison Davis (5:02)

A little bit louder. We need funding for our future wound it is 12:30 and the crowd is now approaching the New York State Capitol Building. The crowd is stretching halfway around the square in front of all these government buildings and still marching forward. I'm about to enter the State Capitol building after about a 2530 minute march and some chanting outside, a steady stream of people are now flowing into the Capitol. You guys are gonna have to exit. We cannot take any more. Okay, I have made it inside the Capitol building, barely. The last person admitted in the top security section by the main entrance. But now I'm down at the lower level, the Concourse, and as you can hear, a massive crowd is approaching the security gate in the lower concourse, taking up the entirety of that corridor and just now have entered the security gate area of the capital. We'll return to socialist January 6th later this episode. But first, some context on why this protest is happening and what it's hoping to achieve. On January 1, democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani was sworn in as mayor of New York City. But you don't magically get your social democracy paradise once a new mayor is sworn in. Getting elected and taking power is just the first step. Governor Hochul has been resistant to raising taxes, and Zoron has said he's open to other funding avenues, but that a small tax increase on the wealthiest New Yorkers and corporations would be the fairest method of funding his agenda. Since taking office, Mayor Mamdani has decided to focus on governing and fostering a working relationship with Kathy Hochul, rather than directing energy towards another uphill electoral battle. That would create a purely adversarial relationship between the mayor and the governor, making any concessions much more difficult in the interim. But external pressure still must be applied to Governor Hochul in order to secure the funding for the Mamdani mandate that voters delivered in the 2025 election. So rather than discarding the grassroots organizing apparatus that got Mamdani elected after the election, that apparatus and its network of volunteers spun off into a new organization called Our Time, which in coordination with the New York City dsa, organizes door to door canvassing, phone banking, community events and rallies to win an affordable New York City and help enact Mamdani's policy agenda. Achieving Mamdani's campaign promises was already going to be a tall task. But then early into the new administration, the mayor's office and comptroller discovered the city was facing an unexpected financial crisis in the form of a $12 billion deficit left by former Mayor Eric Adams. This budget crisis was due to years of financial mismanagement and the under budgeting of essential services like rental and cash assistance, shelters, health insurance, and special education. While in office, Eric Adams covered up this massive budget deficit, leaving the gaps grossly understated. Gaps that were made worse by divestment in New York City by the state under former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Since the financial crisis of the 70s, the New York City mayor has been required by law to have a balanced budget. So rather than sweeping this under the rug by continuing to cook the city's books like his predecessor, Zoron chose complete transparency about the crisis he has inherited and how his administration will attempt to solve it. Zoron signed an executive order to designate chief savings officers in every city agency to quote, streamline processes and eliminate waste. Through his relationship with Governor Kathy Hochul, the mayor secured $1.5 billion in state aid last month. That money, combined with higher than expected Wall street revenues, new savings measures and eliminating inefficiencies and bureaucratic waste have shrunk the deficit to 5.5 billion. Still a painful gap to fill in the preliminary budget unveiled February 17, the mayor laid out two paths to close this gap. The first is a 2% income tax increase on New Yorkers making over a million dollars a year, as well as a tax on the most profitable corporations. If that doesn't happen, the city will be forced to use the limited tools at its disposal by raiding the rainy day fund and raising city property tax by 9.5%. Mayor Mamdani says this second option is one of last resort, as the property tax is the only mechanism for revenue the city has complete control of. The preliminary budget has faced criticism for falling short of promises to increase funding to parks and libraries. The Library budget is 0.11% less than Mamdani campaigned on, and the park budget remains flat rather than boosting it to 1% of the total budget as hoped, though this is still preliminary and subject to change. This budget does contain $500 million for new programmatic spending, including new funding for shelter services, mental health care and the emergency food program, and cancels an Eric Adams plan to add 5,000 more NYPD officers, though as promised, their budget remains effectively the same. Mayor Mamdani says that funding for his proposed Department of Community Safety will be covered in the executive budget later this April. A number of Mamdani's key policies don't relate to the city budget. For example, making buses free will require deals with the state and the mta. But Mamdani just appointed six new people to the Rent Guidelines Board, making a rent freeze more likely. In his second week in office, Mamdani announced a partnership with the governor to provide universal child care for kids under five in New York State and in New York City. Expand Pre K the free 3K program and free child care for 2 year olds, which the state will fully fund for the first two years.

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CJ Toledano (13:30)

on Point Game with me, CJ Toledano and Isaiah Thomas. It was our special live show and it let us know who we thinks would win if they did a 1v1 tournament during all Star Weekend. Take a listen. Okay, so here's an event I think and it's been brought up a bunch that I think could fix All Star Weekend. One on one tournament.

Garrison Davis (13:48)

Yeah.

CJ Toledano (13:48)

Who do you think is winning that tournament? Kevin Durant still right now. Yeah, but what about like a smaller guard like yourself?

Garrison Davis (13:57)

Yeah.

CJ Toledano (13:58)

Nobody's fucking with me though.

Garrison Davis (14:02)

Now that's like. That's one thing I do.

CJ Toledano (14:04)

One on one shit.

Union Representative (14:05)

I do that.

Garrison Davis (14:06)

You can ask anybody, any team I've been on.

CJ Toledano (14:08)

After practice, come over and get this

Garrison Davis (14:10)

ass whooping if you want. Yeah, we're playing ones every after every practice.

CJ Toledano (14:15)

Do you have any legendary one on ones?

Garrison Davis (14:17)

No.

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Garrison Davis (16:21)

On top of the city budget crisis, the Tax the Rich protests are also in the backdrop of Trump's tax cuts and the dismantling of the social safety net. Calls to tax the rich are calls to fund local services and weather the massive cuts to SNAP food stamps and Medicaid. In Trump's one big beautiful bill, the Tax the Rich campaign writes, quote, if we don't tax the rich, millions of New Yorkers will lose health care or go hungry. New York can afford to stand up to Trump's agenda. At the Albany rally, City Councilman Chi Ose spoke about how New York state has over 100 billionaires and New York actually gained 13,000 millionaires in 2024 alone. This fight to tax the rich is a fight that the unions are united on, as demonstrated by the attendees and representatives present at the Albany rally.

Union Representative (17:23)

United auto Workers Region 9A Professional Staff Congress, Community Communication Workers of America. We gotta give this one a shout out because they just came off of a historic strike and a huge, huge contract win. New York State Nurses Association, Committee of Intern and Residents, SEIU Federal Unionist Network, the Doctors Council, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, New Yorkers United for Child Care, alliance for Quality Education and New York Working families. But we really appreciate you here. And with a coalition this strong, make no mistake, we are going to overcome the political power of the billionaire class and we are going to tax the rich for New York we can afford.

Garrison Davis (18:29)

This coalition went up to Albany pushing for a handful of bills currently under consideration. The first is a progressive state income tax bill which will create new tax brackets starting at $1 million so that as people earn millions more dollars in income, they pay a slightly higher share in taxes. This would raise an estimated $21 billion annually. The second bill is called the Fair Share act which seeks to address how New York City essentially charges a flat income tax if you earn $50,000 or $5 million where you pay practically the same rate of roughly 3.9%. The Fair Share act seeks to add a 2% surcharge to those with incomes of over $1 million per year, which would raise about $4 billion annually. The third bill is a tax on the most profitable corporations, a corporate tax bill ensuring companies doing business in New York state with over 2.5 pay what they owe in taxes. This proposal would raise $7 billion annually. And finally, a bill which could be funded by some of the former tax bills is the Universal Child Care act which would ensure free year round full day childcare without means testing and guarantee that all child care workers are paid a genuine living wage. As of now, 22 New York City Council people have signed on to tax the rich by supporting the Fair Share Act. Only four more council people are needed to reach a majority. So with that context, let's return to the Albany protest both outside and inside the New York Capitol building. Make them pay. We pay taxes. Wide all day billionaires. I was the last person to be allowed into the Capitol building. There is hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of people outside now trying to get in to tell the politicians, representatives and the Governor that they want to tax the rich. I am in the lower concourse of the Capitol building, barely getting through security on the top floor because there are so many people. Not because I was inherently dangerous, but now a large, large group of people are coming in via the lower concourse about to reach the main security gate at the lower level. Looks like a few hundred down this corridor about to enter the Capitol holding signs taking up the entire entire passageway. It's the CUNY group. It is the public university union that has appeared. Later that day I interviewed someone with psc, the CUNY staff union.

Liz Stevenson (21:45)

I'm Liz Stevenson. I am an academic advisor at City Tech, which means I'm a member of the PSC CUNY Union.

Garrison Davis (21:52)

Why is PSC here in Albany today?

Liz Stevenson (21:55)

So psc. I'm on the legislative committee of the PSC and many folks from our committee as well as other PSC members have come to Albany because we really want to see fair taxation in New York State. You know, right now a lot of millionaires and billionaires are not paying their fair share, especially as a result of Trump's tax cuts. And that means that we're not seeing the services we need and certainly it can cuny. We're not seeing the funding that we need to make our schools quality schools with safe and healthy facilities. Students are not getting the services that they need. Class sizes are large. So we want to see more full time faculty, we want to see more academic advisors, we want to see more mental health counselors. And just generally we want to see better facilities for cuny. And we know that the only way that we can get the funding that we need for many services, including cuny, is by taxing the rich. We really need to raise revenue in the state.

Garrison Davis (22:51)

So there's the three tax bills, the income, the corporate and the New York City specific one, but on the PSA flyers, it's also another bill or act that is being pushed for specifically to help Couney get more funding. Could you talk about that aspect of the fight here?

Liz Stevenson (23:09)

Sure. A little known one former state legislator named Zoran Mamdani wrote this bill called the Repair Act. And what the Repair act would do is allow the state to collect property taxes from NYU and Columbia and then use that money to fund public higher education like cuny. So right now, you know, as technically as nonprofits, NYU and Columbia do not pay any property tax. In many places around the country there are similar institutions that still make what we call pilots, so payments in lieu of taxes. NYU and Columbia don't even do that. So it would take a constitutional amendment at the state level to require them to pay property taxes. And that's what the Repair act would allow us to do. It would have to go through multiple legislatures in order to get a constitutional amendment that would require them to pay property taxes. That's another way to raise revenue for cuny.

Garrison Davis (24:06)

Liz also told me that PCC is fighting for a quote unquote New Deal for Couney because for the past few decades there's been divestment in public higher education across the country and especially in New York under Cuomo. Cooney suffered from defunding and is now currently suffering from chronic understaffing and facilities in decay, all while student enrollment has increased, teachers have resigned or retired and not been replaced and so PSC is fighting for a renewed investment to hire more full time staff and repair and maintain facilities to improve not just their working conditions but their students learning conditions. A part of the new deal for Couney is also fighting for the first 60 credits to be free for all students.

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Garrison Davis (28:13)

Once the crowd outside managed to find a way to enter the Capitol through the alternative entrances, groups split off to march around the interior perimeter while others lobbied legislators. Lunch was set up on the third floor. After a quick bite, even more people dispersed through the Capitol complex to hand out flyers to legislators and their staff, while small groups lobbied door to door in the Legislative Office Building and organizers attended private meetings. The action was timed to catch politicians and Capitol staff while they were on their own lunch break as they walked around the Empire State Plaza and eventually back to the chambers by early afternoon. As a grand finale, hundreds of people packed the corridor from the legislative offices to the assembly and Senate, lining both sides of the hallway with chanting union members and organizers handing flyers to politicians and staff who hurried through the corridor. Supportive assembly members cheered on the protest as they walked through the tunnel. That is the the current state of the Tax the Rich corridor. Around 3pm the crowd left the corridor, boarded buses outside the Capitol complex, and rode back to New York City just in time to catch the sunset. Meanwhile, at a press conference on Pre K and 3K enrollment, Mayor Zoran Mamdani was asked about his absence from the Albany Tax the Rich rally.

CJ Toledano (30:15)

Hey Mayor, how you doing?

Mayor Zoran Mamdani (30:16)

Hey Jim.

CJ Toledano (30:16)

There's a Tax the Rich rally today in Albany. You're not there, obviously, even though taxing the rich has been one of your consistent calls to raise revenue for the city. So I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit about why you decided not to be there. Were you worried about irking the governor on this issue? And secondly, do you think it disappoints people in this movement that you've called for that, but you're not necessarily at this rally.

Mayor Zoran Mamdani (30:41)

So I make it clear time and time again that I believe in the importance of taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers that little bit more, as well as the most profitable corporations, and doing so while also ending the drain that has long characterized our city's fiscal relationship with the state. And I've said this both because it's important to create a fairer tax system and also because of the fact that we're facing a $5.4 billion fiscal deficit at this time, the likes of which we haven't seen since the Great Recession. And my not attending one event does not change in any way the strength with which I believe this, the urgency with which I believe we have to respond to it. And I'm thankful for New Yorkers who continue to make it clear that they too want to build a city that everyone who calls it home can afford. The governor and I are in constant communication and we are always looking to build a healthier, stronger city. I'm appreciative of her partnership in that, and I know we have a long budget process to go through and I'm encouraged by the beginnings of it.

Garrison Davis (31:34)

Rally attendance was lower than organizers hoped. The early morning start and blizzard a few days prior likely affected turnout, though, as already discussed, many unions did sign on to the action and send representative members. Organizing on a grand scale right after what's perceived as a huge victory, like winning an election can actually be difficult even for a group like Our Time that's working to use the organizing apparatus that got Mamdani elected to help enact his policy agenda. Not as many people will be keen on canvassing right after spending six months canvassing for an election, even if the election was a victory. Our Time aimed to send 25,000 tax the rich letters to state legislators by the end of January, but as of now, the website lists under 7,000 letters sent. But the Albany takeover protest was just the opening act. The state budget is set to be finalized by March 31, and there will be tax rich events across the state leading up to the end of the month. This next week and a half, New York City, DSA and Our Time will host a week of action or a week of tax shin to increase pressure on the legislature and the governor as they head into budget negotiations proving the diversity of this coalition. Confusingly, there are two different time spans listed for the week of action across the social media and org websites March 5th through the 10th or March 7th through the 14th. But regardless, between the 5th and the 14th there are organized actions happening across the five boroughs and statewide in Buffalo, Hudson Valley, Ithaca, Rochester, Syracuse and Westchester. There'll be door knocking, phone banking, collecting petition signatures and a kickoff happy hour social at Stolas in the east village on Thursday, March 5. To quote from our time quote what happens in Albany this winter will shape Zoran's first year in office and determine whether working families get the relief they need. We have until March to build enough pressure to win a state budget that funds free childcare, backfills the cuts, and secures resources to do so much more beyond running the biggest city in the country. As a secondary goal, Mamdani seeks to provide an example that left wing politicians can responsibly govern and that left wing policies can make people's lives better and more affordable. And New Yorkers are organizing to make that example as strong as it can be. Where you at. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, Visit our website coolzonemedia.com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can now find sources for It Could Happen here, listed directly in Episode Descriptions. Thanks for listening.

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