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MTA payroll tax could last another 30 years


realizm

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ALBANY – A payroll tax on large businesses in the New York City area could stay on the books for another 30 years under a proposal from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The MTA is proposing to use the $1.2 billion annually from the payroll tax to back bonds for its five-year, $32 billion capital plan -- essentially making it a permanent tax, according to the plan released Tuesday.

The move comes as lawmakers from the New York City suburbs have sought to repeal the tax, first implemented by the state Legislature and then-Gov. David Paterson in 2009 to help the transit authority stay solvent.

Much of the tax was repealed in 2011 in a deal between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature, but it remains for large employers.

Critics warn that the MTA's proposal would essentially make the remaining payroll tax permanent because it would be used to back bonds, likely for 30 years, for the capital plan. The money has been covering the MTA's operating expenses, which includes some debt payment.

 

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I'm with Klein on this one who represents Riverdale and parts of Westchester.  How many ways can they charge commuters for the same exact thing?  It's already $10.75 one way from Riverdale to Grand Central on Metro-North with the Hudson Rail Link. Our express buses are $6.00 each way.  The (MTA) cannot continue to put the burden on suburban commuters from more affluent communities.  They have to learn how to balance their books.  

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I'm with Klein on this one who represents Riverdale and parts of Westchester.  How many ways can they charge commuters for the same exact thing?  It's already $10.75 one way from Riverdale to Grand Central on Metro-North with the Hudson Rail Link. Our express buses are $6.00 each way.  The (MTA) cannot continue to put the burden on suburban commuters from more affluent communities.  They have to learn how to balance their books.  

Stop acting like you have it so bad and you're in such a suburban place. You're in the Bronx like it or not, so you're still in the City of New York and you pay a lot less to commute than the real suburbs. In bummy LI, Westchester, CT and NJ there's a lot of parts that pay over $300 for their rail/bus pass (can be around $20 one way too!) alone then on top of it they have to buy an unlimited Metro if they don't work by Penn, GCT or the PABT. I guess you'd rather be in one of those areas.

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Stop acting like you have it so bad and you're in such a suburban place. You're in Riverdale like it or not, so you're still in the City of New York and you pay a lot less to commute than the real suburbs. In bummy LI, Westchester, CT and NJ there's a lot of parts that pay over $300 for their rail/bus pass (can be around $20 one way too!) alone then on top of it they have to buy an unlimited Metro if they don't work by Penn, GCT or the PABT. I guess you'd rather be in one of those areas.

Well it certainly isn't urban here.  Plenty of streets with no sidewalks here and plenty of mansions too.  Yes, our taxes are a bit lower being here in the city, but the point is that we need someone who is going to be more business friendly, cut taxes for working professionals instead for the poor, and come up with solutions that are favorable to upper middle class communities.

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I'm with Klein on this one who represents Riverdale and parts of Westchester.  How many ways can they charge commuters for the same exact thing?  It's already $10.75 one way from Riverdale to Grand Central on Metro-North with the Hudson Rail Link. Our express buses are $6.00 each way.  The (MTA) cannot continue to put the burden on suburban commuters from more affluent communities.  They have to learn how to balance their books.  

 

You're lucky it's not $16.75. You're lucky you don't live in London, where long distance commutes like yours are by zone, and a flat $2.50 doesn't apply. The MTA is cheap, and we're all lucky for that. It can only stay that way with taxation levied properly, and given Cuomo keeps stealing taxes for himself, that can only lead to an increase in taxes.

 

Well it certainly isn't urban here.  Plenty of streets with no sidewalks here and plenty of mansions too.  Yes, our taxes are a bit lower being here in the city, but the point is that we need someone who is going to be more business friendly, cut taxes for working professionals instead for the poor, and come up with solutions that are favorable to upper middle class communities.

 

You live in DA BRONX!

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You're lucky it's not $16.75. You're lucky you don't live in London, where long distance commutes like yours are by zone, and a flat $2.50 doesn't apply. The MTA is cheap, and we're all lucky for that. It can only stay that way with taxation levied properly, and given Cuomo keeps stealing taxes for himself, that can only lead to an increase in taxes.

 

 

You live in Riverdale DA BRONX!

You can't compare transportation here to what happens in London. London is the exception.  Most of Europe has first class transport that is very reasonable, on time and clean and makes our system look like a joke.  London is very expensive so it would make sense that the transport there would be expensive as well.

 

As for your other comment, sorry I don't live in the ghetto. :lol:

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Metro-north fares are insane. We pay for the dumb non zone fares in NYC. NYC needs a zone fare system.

Well a monthly pass from Riverdale to Grand Central is $193.00 a month, which doesn't include the pass I buy for the express bus. I use both for business and for pleasure but that's still over $400.00 a month, so us folks in the city don't pay peanuts either.

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You're lucky it's not $16.75. You're lucky you don't live in London, where long distance commutes like yours are by zone, and a flat $2.50 doesn't apply. The MTA is cheap, and we're all lucky for that. It can only stay that way with taxation levied properly, and given Cuomo keeps stealing taxes for himself, that can only lead to an increase in taxes.

 

 

You live in DA BRONX!

Or Jersey for that matter. Imagine if zone-based fares were implemented, his EXP Bus commute would soar through the roof...The amount of bitching we'd hear..... :D

 

As for your other comment, sorry I don't live in the ghetto. :lol:

Too bad, you're in The Bronx regardless, especially since the businesses I've been to and worked at up there in North, Central & South Riverdale has their addresses as "Bronx, NY" and not "Riverdale, NY" in their menus and advertisements. Living in a world of delusions is not healthy.

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Well it certainly isn't urban here.  Plenty of streets with no sidewalks here and plenty of mansions too.  Yes, our taxes are a bit lower being here in the city, but the point is that we need someone who is going to be more business friendly, cut taxes for working professionals instead for the poor, and come up with solutions that are favorable to upper middle class communities.

 

Astoria actually has a good number of old mansions too...

 

And don't pretend the poor don't work. The lower class actually labors more than any other class.

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Astoria actually has a good number of old mansions too...

 

And don't pretend the poor don't work. The lower class actually labors more than any other class.

Astoria isn't suburban.  In any event, the poor get far more handouts and subsidies than anyone else and that was the point.  Who do you think helps to pay for those handouts? Those of us who earn more.  <_<

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Astoria isn't suburban.  In any event, the poor get far more handouts and subsidies than anyone else and that was the point.  Who do you think helps to pay for those handouts? Those of us who earn more.  <_<

 

Poor people don't pay taxes? Lol, I pay my taxes. I see a good chunk of that income go to taxes, but I ain't complaining. And excuse me, but as many here, and as I recall, you're the "honest, hard-working" person that keeps telling everyone here on this forum that you shouldn't pay more taxes because "taxes are way too high for us upper middle-class people". You know what you should do instead of whining about those income-wasting taxes? Stop paying for that Metro-North. Stop paying for those $6.00 express buses. Ride the local bus full of those needy welfare suckers you talk about. Ride the dirty 1 train full of germs that are to get only you. You'd be amazed at how much money will be freed up.

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Poor people don't pay taxes? Lol, I pay my taxes. I see a good chunk of that income go to taxes, but I ain't complaining. And excuse me, but as many here, and as I recall, you're the "honest, hard-working" person that keeps telling everyone here on this forum that you shouldn't pay more taxes because "taxes are way too high for us upper middle-class people". You know what you should do instead of whining about those income-wasting taxes? Stop paying for that Metro-North. Stop paying for those $6.00 express buses. Ride the local bus full of those needy welfare suckers you talk about. Ride the dirty 1 train full of germs that are to get only you. You'd be amazed at how much money will be freed up.

Poor people don't pay NEARLY as much as upper middle class folks do, especially single professionals like myself.  As for me not taking Metro-North and the express bus, sorry but that's the professional, classy thing to do here.  Unless you're wild about the subway or just too cheap, you use the express bus or Metro-North.  Besides, I honestly don't feel like spending an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half each way using a bus and two to three trains.  Ridiculous.

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I'm with Klein on this one who represents Riverdale and parts of Westchester.  How many ways can they charge commuters for the same exact thing?  It's already $10.75 one way from Riverdale to Grand Central on Metro-North with the Hudson Rail Link. Our express buses are $6.00 each way.  The (MTA) cannot continue to put the burden on suburban commuters from more affluent communities.  They have to learn how to balance their books.  

 

The payroll tax is fairly miniscule; it's 34 cents for every hundred dollars. This is nothing compared to similarly wealthy areas that subsidize transit; the Parisian payroll tax is levied at 2.6%. If we ended up levying anywhere near the amount of money that Paris does, we'd have enough money to cover the city with subway and rehab all the stations while we're at it, too.

 

Suburban services are significantly more expensive for the MTA to provide due to heavily peaked schedules and staffing requirements, and neither of those are really things the MTA can expect to change any time soon, so it's perfectly reasonable that they should cost more. Do we need to trot out the cost per rider statistics again?

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The payroll tax is fairly miniscule; it's 34 cents for every hundred dollars. This is nothing compared to similarly wealthy areas that subsidize transit; the Parisian payroll tax is levied at 2.6%. If we ended up levying anywhere near the amount of money that Paris does, we'd have enough money to cover the city with subway and rehab all the stations while we're at it, too.

 

Suburban services are significantly more expensive for the MTA to provide due to heavily peaked schedules and staffing requirements, and neither of those are really things the MTA can expect to change any time soon, so it's perfectly reasonable that they should cost more. Do we need to trot out the cost per rider statistics again?

The payroll tax isn't the only tax that the (MTA) collects from commuters and non-commuters and you know it.

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The payroll tax isn't the only tax that the (MTA) collects from commuters and non-commuters and you know it.

 

It's not, but that's primarily what the article is about. Most of the taxes are a sales tax, real estate transaction tax, payroll tax, and a taxi surcharge. The payroll tax is the only thing that's really contested in validity; most of the other things are viewed as acceptable funding sources, but are incredibly unstable due to their dependance on the boom-bust economic cycle.

 

There aren't many transit agencies around the world that are completely or mostly rider-paid, and the MTA actually funds more of its system from riders than any other system in the US. We could move to more rider funding, but that would probably involve hiking prices by obscene amounts, and barring a politician (or politicians) who is actually willing to not kowtow to unions in regards to work-rule reform or bash heads in the construction industry, nothing will change.

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It's not, but that's primarily what the article is about. Most of the taxes are a sales tax, real estate transaction tax, payroll tax, and a taxi surcharge. The payroll tax is the only thing that's really contested in validity; most of the other things are viewed as acceptable funding sources, but are incredibly unstable due to their dependance on the boom-bust economic cycle.

 

There aren't many transit agencies around the world that are completely or mostly rider-paid, and the MTA actually funds more of its system from riders than any other system in the US. We could move to more rider funding, but that would probably involve hiking prices by obscene amounts, and barring a politician (or politicians) who is actually willing to not kowtow to unions in regards to work-rule reform or bash heads in the construction industry, nothing will change.

All this shows is how well (MTA) workers are paid (generally speaking), and how high pensions and healthcare costs have skyrocketed out of control.

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