This caught my eye:

ADAMS compounded his gains from the straw contributions by using them to defraud New York City and steal public funds. New York City has a matching funds program that matches small-dollar contributions from individual City residents with up to eight times their amount in public funds, to give New Yorkers a greater voice in elections. ADAMS's campaigns applied for matching funds based on known straw donations, fraudulently obtaining as much as $2,000 in public funds for each illegal contribution. ADAMS and those working at his direction falsely certified compliance with applicable campaign finance regulations despite ADAMS's repeated acceptance of straw donations, relying on the concealed nature of these illegal contributions to falsely portray his campaigns as law-abiding. As a result of those false certifications, ADAMS's 2021 mayoral campaign received more than $10,000,000 in public funds.

So NY has a program to basically FORCE taxpayers to bankroll political campaigns through this matching program, in the guise of giving New Yorkers a "greater voice". Sounds like another way to fleece taxpayers for the benefit of the elite, particularly when you see how said politicians spend "their" campaign cash.