MAYOR’S ‘RICH’ PLAN TO FIX SUBWAY
Plan would hit up N.Y.ers making $500G+
MAYOR DE BLASIO is proposing a tax on the rich to fund fixes to the problem-plagued subway system.
The levy on wealthy New Yorkers, which requires approval in Albany, would generate nearly $800 million a year for the MTA — including cash for subway fixes and upgrades like new signals, subway cars and track repairs, according to de Blasio’s spokesman.
It would also pay for a plan to offer half-price subway and bus fares to low-income New Yorkers.
Hizzoner’s proposal, which will be formally announced Monday, comes after weeks of fighting with Gov. Cuomo, who controls the MTA and wants the city to pick up half the tab for an $836 million subway rescue plan. De Blasio has balked at that request.
“Rather than sending the bill to working families and subway and bus riders already feeling the pressure of rising fares and bad service, we are asking the wealthiest in our city to chip in a little extra to help move our transit system into the 21st century,” de Blasio said.
“Instead of searching for a quick fix that doesn’t exist, or simply forking over more and more of our tax dollars every year, we have come up with a fair way to finance immediate and long-term transit improvement and to better hold the state accountable for the system’s performance.”
Cuomo, meanwhile, is considering proposing a form of congestion pricing to raise money for the MTA in his State of the State address next year, a Cuomo administration official said Sunday.
The idea, which involves a charge to drive in the most traffic-clogged parts of Manhattan, has been pushed by transit advocates for years, but neither Cuomo nor de Blasio has recently thrown their full weight behind it. Among the versions Cuomo is considering is one that would slap a charge only on for-hire vehicles that enter the congestion zone, the official said.
De Blasio’s plan would apply to income over $500,000 for individuals or $1 million for married couples, hitting about 32,000 people, according to de Blasio spokesman Eric Phillips. It would hike their city income taxes by 0.534%, from 3.876% to 4.41%.
That would bring in about $500 million a year for capital upgrades for subways and buses, plus $250 million to offer discount MetroCards to about 800,000 poor New Yorkers.
The half-fare proposal, known as Fair Fares, has been pushed by advocates, but both the city and state have refused to pick up the cost.
De Blasio has pushed taxes on the wealthy before — an income tax to fund pre-K and a “mansion tax” to fund affordable housing — but none of the proposals has made it through Albany.
“After saying the MTA doesn’t need money, we’re glad the mayor reversed himself,” MTA Chairman Joe Lhota said in a statement. “However, we need shortterm emergency funding now. The mayor should partner with us and match the state funding now so we can turn the trains around. There’s no question we need a long-term funding stream, but emergency train repairs can’t wait on what the state Legislature may or may not do next year.”
Cuomo echoed that sentiment, saying the city should pony up now because “we cannot ask New Yorkers to wait one year to start repairs.”
An MTA spokesman said the agency learned of the plan from the press, not the mayor’s office, and was reviewing it.
State Senate Republicans — whose help de Blasio would need to pass the tax — bashed the mayor’s idea.
“With New York City sitting on a surplus that is north of $4 billion, the absolute last thing we should be talking about is raising taxes,” said GOP spokesman Scott Reif. “If the city wants to up its contribution to help shore up the subways for commuters and their families — which we support — it certainly has the means to do that.”
City Controller Scott Stringer said he’d support the tax if it could gain the necessary support in Albany, but cautioned the odds aren’t good.
“This is a genuine crisis, and I think the mayor’s proposal should be looked at,” he told reporters in Queens. “Before we get too optimistic, people have to realize that New York City has a serious political problem in the state Senate.”
John Raskin, executive director of the Riders Alliance, backed the tax.
“A millionaires’ tax would require some New Yorkers to pay, but the status quo requires literally millions of New Yorkers to pay in the form of lost wages, missed work and days ruined by breakdowns and delays,” he said.
“It’s fair to ask the New Yorkers who benefit the most from our city’s prosperity to pay a little more to repair the infrastructure that the entire economy relies on.”