They don’t have to raise taxes. Take the money from whatever failure programs are running at the moment. Because you know there must be some agency whose job it is to deal with mentally ill criminals. Right?

There must be someone who is charged with making it safe to walk in center city in broad daylight? Hmmmm. What would their job title be? Hmmmmm. Take the money and redistribute it.
Just don’t call it defunding. Find a better word.