Taxes to back the MTA? That is what some New York lawmakers are proposing.
After New York’s Senate and Assembly released their one-house budgets on Tuesday, members of the Assembly suggested a menu of taxes to fund the MTA’s 2025-2029 capital plan.
The proposals include fees for online package delivery, surcharges on rideshare rides and an increase in the current 0.6% payroll mobility tax (PMT) on employers in NYC and nearby suburbs, according to an article in Crain’s New York Business.
What does this mean for New Yorkers? If taxes like this are approved, they could potentially land on people when they order items online or use rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft.
As for rideshares, for-hire vehicles already pay a $1.50 congestion pricing surcharge into Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, among other taxes.
‘No, no, no and no’ new taxes
The taxes are not alleged to come in the form of income, sales or property taxes — and are not a sure thing. Nevertheless, many New Yorkers are still furious at the prospect of yet more money being taken out of their pockets by taxes.
“No, no, no and no,” Filippa Grisafi of Staten Island, and an express bus advocate, said enthusiastically. “How many more things will they put taxes on? This has now gotten beyond outrageous and our assembly members are supporting this. Audit the MTA now!”
New Yorker Vittorio Bugatti said the idea is “crazy,” especially with the many surcharges already in place for rideshare trips.
“And, why would anyone think it’s a good idea to charge a tax on package deliveries with so many people working from home now? Just unreal,” he said.
amNewYork Metro reached out to Andrea Stewart-Cousins, NYS’s Senate Majority leader, and Carl Heasie, the state’s Assembly speaker, for more clarification about the proposal, but did not receive any responses.
Need for ‘revenue injection’
Right now, the tax proposals are vague, but the Fiscal Policy Institute shed some light on the capital plan funding issue.
“The legislative budget proposals decline to put forward measures to fund the MTA capital plan,” according to the institute’s analysis of the one-house budgets. “Instead, the Assembly’s report on its budget proposal recommends closed-door negotiations with the governor, potentially including raising the PMT. The Senate’s less detailed report is silent on MTA funding.”
Speaking of PMT, the state raised it in 2023 for NYC when the MTA needed a “revenue injection,” as the institute put it.
Therese Kara Lydon, a single mom of two from Staten Island, suggested cracking down more on fare evasion instead of hitting New Yorkers and business owners with taxes.
“How about cracking down on the criminals that don’t pay their fares,” she said. “Maybe more police presence at train stations. More police support for the bus drivers. We the working class are literally funding criminal acts in many different genres all over the city as it is now.”
Stewart-Cousins and Heastie made headlines when they rejected the MTA’s $68.4 billion capital plan for 2025-2029 on Dec. 24 last year. The reason for the rejection was due to a funding shortfall of about $35 billion that has yet to be secured.
As for Gov. Kathy Hochul, a spokesperson said the state’s leader supports making the much-needed infrastructure updates to the city’s transit system.
“Gov. Hochul remains committed to making the investments necessary to immediately improve public transportation and provide long-term stability for the MTA,” the spokesperson told amNew York Metro on Tuesday. “The legislature vetoed the 2025-29 capital plan and said they wanted to address funding concerns in the context of the state budget, and now that the budget process is underway, these conversations are ongoing.”
Meanwhile, business group leaders raised concerns about the possibility of more taxes. Ken Pokalsky, vice president of The Business Council of New York State, said in the Crain’s article that he recognizes the “importance of effective mass transit in New York City, but we need to look at all options—not just increased taxes—in addressing the MTA’s long-term financial challenge.”
Funding for the MTA’s capital plan remains in limbo. Separate from the agency’s operating budget, it supports major infrastructure projects, such as power and substations, and even the planned Interborough Express construction.
During a press conference in Manhattan on Tuesday, MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber stressed the need to fund the capital plan to upkeep the transit system–a lifeline of public transportation for millions of New Yorkers in the city.
“All three parties—the state senate, assembly and most of all governor—understand that you must fully fund the MTA capital program,” he said. “It is a minimum program. It is a program that makes sure that we can make progress so that the power system, and the structure and the railroad cars don’t erode, and the system becomes worse.”
