New York also wastes ridiculous amounts of money on local pork. Housing lotteries (the city buys 50% of a house for a few lucky people), bloated salaries for MTA workers, dance police (1), and most programs are extremely inefficient (housing projects in manhattan? why not move them to Jamaica, and save money?).

Perhaps NY could spend that extra 15% effectively. But it would probably just be wasted.

(1) If patrons dance or sway to music in a bar without a cabaret license, the police will ticket the bar owner. As of 3 weeks ago, the cops were actively patrolling for this.