Manhattan borough president: Commuter tax is a way for N.J. to pay fair share

[jehu]

Taxes are fine. When applied fairly and to promote growth.

NYC should demand back from Albany all the taxes NJ citizens pay to NY as income taxes.



 

Shame courts already ruled the commuter tax illegal.

By the way. I pay NY State Taxes. Isn't that enough?

I thought you liked taxes.

[Rabelais]

Shame courts already ruled the commuter tax illegal.

By the way. I pay NY State Taxes. Isn't that enough?

I thought you liked taxes.

[jehu]

Also, every NYC business has to pay a MTA tax, currently at 0.34% on all salaries.  So if you are working in NYC and making $100K the MTA is making $340 off of you even if you never use the subways. Not to mention the $2,340 it costs you IF you do take the subway 2x a day yearly.

[jehu]

Shame courts already ruled the commuter tax illegal.

By the way. I pay NY State Taxes. Isn't that enough?

[MCA™]

Get a load of this guy.


Commuter tax is a way for N.J. to pay fair share
Published: Sunday, May 20, 2012, 8:15 AM
By Scott M. Stringer
Star-Ledger Guest Columnist

New Jersey residents, like millions more from Connecticut, the Hudson Valley and Long Island, are increasingly coming to New York City to work — and they are doing so by public transportation.

A new study of commuting patterns shows that from 2002 to 2009, the greatest growth rate in Manhattan commuting was from northern New Jersey, where there was a 21 percent increase. PATH ridership has soared 35 percent since 2005, hitting an all-time high in 2011, and NJ Transit trains are more crowded than ever.

With statistics like that, one might assume that our regional transportation network is getting better. Sadly, the opposite is true. Today, the transit system we’ve relied on for 100 years is increasingly strained and that poses a long-term risk to the growth of the region’s $1.2 trillion economy.

We still rely on just two rail tunnels to connect New Jersey to Manhattan. PATH trains and Metropolitan Transportation Authority subways are carrying more riders than at any time in the past 60 years. All the while, our transit agencies pile up mountains of debt and hit middle-class workers with fare increases twice the rate of inflation. This is an unsustainable path for our entire region.

That’s why I’ve proposed a broad-based plan to repair our regional transportation network — a plan that, yes, includes restoration of a commuter tax that New Jersey residents, who worked in New York City, paid for 30 years prior to 1999.

BY THE NUMBERS

WORKING IN N.Y.C.
325,229: N.J. residents
37,497: Conn. residents
23,681: Pa. residents

WORKING IN N.J.
118,739: N.Y.C. residents
181,785: N.Y. state residents (includes N.Y.C. residents)

Source: U.S. Census Bureau

Back then, the commuter tax flowed into the city’s general fund. But under my plan, the revenue would be dedicated to the MTA, the central nervous system of our regional transit network and a system that some 7 million riders — many of them Jerseyans — rely on every day to get around New York City.

In other words, this commuter tax would benefit everyone — city and suburban commuters alike. It’s a regional solution to a regional problem.

Judging by the reaction from New Jersey Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex) and others, one would think I proposed a hostile takeover of New Jersey. But New York would hardly be alone in assessing a small surcharge on commuters.

Thousands of New Jersey residents already pay commuter taxes for work performed in Philadelphia and Wilmington, Del. Wilmington’s tax is 1.25 percent, more than twice my proposed surcharge of 0.45 percent. And Philadelphia’s tax is 3.5 percent, more than seven times what I’ve proposed for New York City. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Mo., and Detroit all impose income taxes on nonresidents who work in those cities, at rates greater than the one I proposed.

And thanks to a tax credit program, New Jersey commuters would receive a credit for 100 percent of the surcharge.

Nobody wants to pay more taxes. I get that. But the truth is that we are already paying for our lack of investment in transit infrastructure through soaring debt payments and increased fares. I don’t have to tell working families in Jersey about fare hikes. As with New York City transit, NJ Transit and PATH fares have soared in recent years.

And I don’t have to tell Jersey commuters about the problems of relying on a 20th-century system in the 21st century. Anyone who’s been stuck at Penn Station waiting for the Portal Bridge to be fixed, or sat in traffic for hours to get through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels, knows exactly what I mean.

We have to find a better way — a way to responsibly fund both our transit operations and our capital projects. And everyone must pitch in for that effort.

The time for passing the buck to our children is over. The time for biannual fare hikes that exceed inflation is over. I look forward to partnering with elected officials and community groups in New Jersey, and throughout the region, who understand that we must make difficult choices if we are to build a transit network that will prepare the region for economic growth in the 21st century.

Scott M. Stringer, a Democrat, is Manhattan Borough president.

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