A Pox is Upon Us or is that a Tax is Upon Us?
As many expected, once the elections were over, Governor Kathy Hochul brought back the massively unpopular Congestion Pricing Tax scheme.
The MTA met and passed a $9 per car tax to enter Manhattan’s central business district beginning January 5, 2025. The tax would gradually rise to $15 per car by 2031. The scheme does still need federal approval and President-elect Donald Trump is already on the record as being opposed to this tax scheme.
“New Yorkers no longer trust Governor Kathy Hochul — and why should they? The governor has officially broken faith with New Yorkers by moving forward with a deeply unpopular new tax after cynically ‘pausing’ it right before the 2024 elections. In doing so, Mrs. Hochul has insulted the intelligence and pocketbooks of working- and middle-class New Yorkers who genuinely believed Mrs. Hochul’s controversial tax was gone when they voted less than two weeks ago,” said New York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar.
Hochul’s announcement drew some ire when she claimed in a remarkable spin move that the $9 tax was a 40% reduction in the tax from the originally proposed $15. This claim of a discount rings hollow since there was no Congestion Price tax at all until now, so $9 is actually a 100% increase from the current situation.
Senator Dean Murray (R,C) said, “Before you reach into the people's pockets for more money (ie: congestion pricing), you must first clean up your own fiscal backyard. We need a forensic audit!”
The Congestion Tax will be collected through automatic billing by cameras reading your license plates. Processes are being discussed to penalize evaders who try to disguise their license plates. Big Brother will know where you are and charge you accordingly whether you like it or not.
The vote by the MTA board was 12-1 with the lone ‘No’ vote coming from board member David Mack who said, "I can't vote for this" citing that NYC officials have failed to seek revenue where they can do so now without enacting this tax scheme.
Congestion relief measures such as going after cars and trucks double parking and looking at other funding avenues to finance mass transit upgrades have not been exhausted or in some cases even been tried.
"You have five to seven bridges that are not tolled. You would be spreading the burden for everyone," Mack said.
Sen. Dan Palumbo (R,C-New Suffolk) said, “Governor Hochul and New York's Democrat leadership are once again looking to Long Islanders to bail out the MTA. The Governor paused this tax only long enough to get past Election Day. It is a slap in the face to struggling Long Islanders to ask them to once again pay higher taxes just to get to work. Now more than ever Long Islanders needed relief. Instead, they got deception and higher taxes.”
Kassar further said, “This tax, which was passed as a budget bill to avoid legislative debate, was never about street congestion or the environment. It will simply shift traffic and pollution to lower-income communities. Indeed, the Congestion Pricing Tax has always and only been about the constant deficits run by an incompetent and bureaucratically bloated MTA that fails to collect more than $700 million in toll, bus, and subway fares each year. This same MTA, has spent more on consultants for the Second Avenue Subway than on its construction, and New York continues to pay multiple times per track mile than any other city on the planet.”
Brookhaven Town Supervisor, Dan Panico, said, “The waste, fraud and abuse at the MTA are absolutely legendary. The manner in which the Governor pulled the proposal at $15, citing a myriad of concerns, and then promptly reinstated it at $9 only fosters and foments the general distrust people have in their government.”
“Instead of doing the hard work to root out the issues, our Governor - backed by the city-centric legislative majority in Albany - chose to throw money at the problem to try and make it vanish from your eyes. Your money, through a regressive tax that hits those who can least afford to pay it the most,” Panico added.
Hempstead Town Supervisor, Don Clavin, weighed in, “By targeting drivers who are just trying to get to work each day, the Governor is sending a clear message that the economic well-being of suburban communities is disposable. Enough is enough. Governor Hochul needs to abandon this misguided, unaffordable plan and start respecting the needs of our suburban communities. We deserve real solutions that don’t come at the expense of our families, our jobs, and our way of life.”
Congressman Anthony D’Esposito (R-Hempstead), Town Supervisor of Oyster Bay, Joseph Saladino (R), and Town Supervisor of NorthHempstead Jennifer DeSena (D) joined Clavin and Panico an event opposing the new tax scheme.