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Shelly Silver doesn't think the commuter tax (repealed back in 1999) sucks! The Assembly Speaker, who opposed congestion pricing, said he was open to revisiting the tax, given the state of the economy. But, the Daily News reports, "Silver said he wants the GOP-controlled Senate take the lead in resurrecting the commuter tax," which seems unlikely, since Senate Majority Dean Skelos's spokesman said, "The NYC commuter tax was a particularly onerous and unfair tax." (The Sun explains it's a "tax of 45/100ths of 1% on the earned income of people who work in the city but commute from elsewhere.") As for other pols, Senate minority leader Malcolm Smith doesn't like it, Governor Paterson hates it and Mayor Bloombers really hearts it, "I've been screaming about commuter taxes for as long as I've been here."
Sheldon Silver Supports Commuter Tax
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In regards to your article: http://gothamist.com/2009/11/28/lawsuit_dirty_st_vincents_equipment.php
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That's great. Tax the middle and lower classes more while the economy is in the shitter.
Regret much?
IMO just put high speed tolls on all the Harlem and East River bridges and let's move on.
share the wealth, share the pain.
but that's not the GOP/American way.
The commuter tax is fair: all those suburbanites who commute to the city use a lot of city-sponsored services. However, the repeal of the tax stopped a lot of companies from moving across the Hudson.
Tax Western Union transfers going south ofthe border instead.
I think the price of gas is a commuter tax nowadays. Remember when it cost twenty bucks to fill your tank? crazy. you have to take a second mortgage on your house to afford to fill your tank.
I'm willing to pay the commuter tax...as long as I get to vote in the city elections.
ITA. As a Manhattan resident who pays a king's ransom in taxes, I support taxing the commuters and the tourists. I'm tired of subsidizing city services for all these leeches.
I'm originally from white plains and my family and I agree that the commuter tax should come back. However, it should be a progressive tax. Only those who make above a certain threshold should have to pay it, ie. the rich suburbanites.
He is a dumb ass lib... tax tax tax tax tax
You wrote: "The Assembly Speaker, who opposed congestion pricing...."
The way I've heard Silver tell it several times now, he supported congestion pricing in the Assembly's Democratic conference. A majority of Democratic Assembly members, but not Silver opposed the proposal. Silver said he was in the minority on that issue.
yes, tax the tourist, now in every city sponsored event there are so many tourists. They even ride the trains. It is too much. Tourist should pay some sort of taxes or fees when in NYC. Bloomberg cares more about tourist then residents. NYPD protects the tourist sites and even summons carriage drivers for overcharging them. Horse drawn carriage are cruel and unsafe for horses and for us. Yet Bloomberg wants them for the tourists and it does not even generate revenue for the city. I hate tourists. too many.
Every big city mayor dreams wet about commuter taxes--The state can levy a property tax on metro counties for high-end (over $800,000) homes and distribute the dough to the primary cities, like NYC. Otherwise, it's a crappy additional tax that will drive out people, money, and business from NY.
It is taxation without representation. If it was taxation with representation, nobody would vote for Shelly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1H7Fervqwo
So let me get this straight, I should pay to work in Manhattan because I live in Brooklyn? This is exactly what is wrong with this city and country. And I hate tourists as much as the next person, but let's be honest, taxing tourists in this economy is not the way to go. Let's be honest moonbeam, who do you think is helping NYC stay afloat----tourists! It's not Wall Street. And back to the debate I go...
JMH:
You're helping me make my point. With a commuter tax, I will be paying for, using your example, the police protection of the NYPD which I am now getting for 'free'. (Disregarding the fact that the taxes a company pays on the money an employee helps it make should cover this expense. Being an employee, after all, is being an extension of a company.)
Don't I deserve to vote for how my tax dollars are spent?...Vote for who makes the laws that I have to abide by as a tax-paying citizen? Vote to shape the future of the city that my money is paying for?
Commuters already pay New York State tax and don't use the most expensive service provided by the government: education. So exactly what sort of a free ride are they getting? Do office workers that come into the city for 8 hours a day really consume the bulk of the police, fire, and ambulance services? Doubtful.
People here could hate the tourists all they want, but the fact of the matter is they are the ones who drive NYC and even NYS economy. Without the tourism NYC gets every year the city will go bankrupt.