Giuliani Plays Up NYC Tax Cuts and Crime Drop

by Alex Bardole

In a television ad (“Leadership”) that ran in Iowa recently, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani makes claims about his record as mayor of New York City. The context of the ad is the voice of Giuliani, with text on the screen reinforcing his various claims. Are his claims accurate?

The first claim Rudy made was the following: “I cut taxes dramatically…” (TEXT ON SCREEN: “cut taxes 23 times”). Upon further inspection, the non-partisan group FactCheck.org ran an article about this very same statistic in recent weeks. According to FactCheck, eight of the 23 tax cuts came either from the city council or from the state government.

In a recent New York Daily News article, former councilman Peter Vallone weighed in on the claim: “The correct nomenclature would be ‘we cut taxes’ instead of ‘I cut taxes’”.

It seems Giuliani is taking credit for what was, in some cases, a collective effort. This helps him win points among voters as a fiscal conservative, or as he puts it in his ad, “a candidate that has fiscal discipline.”

Another claim in his ad is that he “cut crime in half” in New York City. According to the Citizens Budget Commission, a civilian budget watchdog, this claim is correct. From the time Giuliani took office to the time he left, violent crimes in New York City decreased by more than 50%. Just to add context to that record, however, it is important to note that the national crime rate decreased by 32%. In addition, whereas the crime rate decreased, the rate of civilian complaints against New York Police Department officers increased by 41%.

Lesson: Giuliani, like many other candidates, is selectively highlighting his record as mayor of New York City to play up his strengths and gloss over weaknesses. We leave it up the voters to decide whether it is right for him to claim credit for tax cuts proposed and pushed by other players in local government.