Tale of two cities: Six Bill de Blasio policies
1 Wants to raise the city’s income tax (which comes on top of federal and state tax) on those earning more than $500,000 a year from 3.9 per cent to 4.4 per cent to fund pre-school education.
2 Wants a so-called living wage of $11.75 an hour for those who work for the city council or in city-subsidised projects – including retail staff.
3 Has come out strongly against the spread of high-end developments and championed affordable housing. De Blasio also wants to make compulsory so-called inclusionary zoning – stipulating that new developments must include or fund new social housing within the borough.
4 Proposes broad reform of all tax breaks – particularly those focused on large corporations. De Blasio claims this will raise $250m per year which can then be spent on training programmes for the city workforce.
5 Calls to end the overuse and misuse of police “stop and frisk” tactics have led to critics labelling him soft on crime, fearing a reversal of the dramatic drop in crime figures under predecessors Giuliani and Bloomberg.
6 Wants to end the “inhumane treatment” of carriage horses by banning Central Park’s famous horse-drawn carriage tours, retiring them to sanctuaries and replacing them with “electric, vintage-replica tourist-friendly vehicles.”