It's the Brian Laris show on WNYC.

Good morning, everyone.

We have New York Times columnist, DEML Bowie, coming up on today's show, among other things.

And we'll start here with the New York State

and City budget still stuck on how much to tax the rich. And one of the central arguments around

that being whether tax rates or private sector unaffordability, which could be alleviated by tax

rates, do more to make people leave New York City.

A new report out this week from the Watchdog Group, the Citizens Budget Commission,

found that New York City is losing parts of its population across all income levels and all demographics.

The schools are losing students. Around a third of New Yorkers rate their quality

of life as excellent or good. That's a third, excellent or good. One in four. One in four,

a quarter of the city, say they're planning to leave within five years, and the city is staring

down budget gaps in the billions of dollars.

The state is also debating its budget right now, which is already about three weeks late,

and this is one of the central issues.

The commission's answer to the city, cut spending, definitely don't raise taxes in the state that already leads the nation

and per capita tax burden.

That puts the nonpartisan watchdog group on a direct collision course with Mayor's Iran-Mam Dani.

As you know, he says the only way out of the city's fiscal hole is to make the wealthy pay more.

Now, last week, the mayor

rolled out a push for a pieter, I should say the governor rolled out a push for a pieter

tax on wealthy residents' second or additional homes worth $5 million or more. The mayor supported it.

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