How Will Taxi Surcharge Actually Be Collected And Enforced?

The new plan to bailout the MTA relies mostly on a payroll tax in 12 counties, but one of the significant components is a 50-cent taxi dropoff surcharge. It's estimated that it would raise $85 million, but critics of the plan are wondering how it's going to work. According to NY1, "Most drivers pay a fee to lease the taxi from a garage, but then, aside from paying for gas, all the money they make goes directly into their pocket...Industry representatives say the new surcharge may be virtually unenforceable because it puts taxi owners in charge of collecting it." The Committee for Taxi Safety's David Pollack explains, "There are 13,000 some-odd taxi medallion owners. A lot of them lease to my members. So my members are responsible. Cabs have multiple drivers, it's a bookkeeping nightmare." The state says cab owners will have to submit the collections on a quarterly basis; the surcharge is supposed to be in effect by November.