State Can't Tax Enough Blood From Stone For MTA

Geoff Ross's Flickr

The state legislature's attempt to bail out the MTA last year has fallen $400 million short, because tax revenues were considerably less than anticipated. You'll recall that back in May 2009, with Doomsday looming, the legislature passed a $2.26 billion plan to bail out the MTA by way of a big payroll tax and numerous other surcharges, including a 50-cent taxi fee; increased costs for a driver's license; and car-rental, garage-parking and license fees. But revenues have fallen short of projections, and now the MTA faces another budget gap, again. Please be patient.

The Post reports that the payroll tax came in at $321 million under expectations, which were overstated. According to MTA documents obtained by the tabloid, the economy, stupid, was weaker than expected, "which in turn resulted in lower-than-expected tax receipts." Overall, the payroll tax will bring in about $1.34 billion instead of the $1.66 that was projected. Revenue from the DMV tax, the cab tax, and the car-rental tax are also under-performing! As one MTA board member put it, "The riders have done their part with service cuts and fare hikes, but motorists aren't doing their part." Come on all you selfish motorists, do your part and pay more taxes!

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By John Del Signore in News on December 6, 2010 9:20 AM

Comments [rss]

starstruck13

Interesting...because Im pretty sure the MTA inspector at my express bus stop this morning had JERSEY plates. Yeah...I don't think its us that's the issue.

starstruck13

wtf..where did this pic of me come from? I didnt put it on here....

edit: fixed. that was weird.

ides_of_march

The downward spiral continues: keep taxing the most productive people and businesses until they pack up and move making the problem worse.

KayK

Please move away traitor.

Jen Chung

The state has reneged on its commitment to the MTA for years and years—it feels like they'll resort to anything that's not related to a congestion tax (or East River crossing tax) to look good to constituents at the expense of running the agency into the ground.

jibbly

This morning as I stood on the express train from Brooklyn to Midtown that paused several times between stops effectively making it slower than the local, with someone's arm draped over my face trying to reach a pole, a purse jabbing me in the ribs, and someone inadvertently bumpin-&-grindin on me with every (unexplained) lurch of the train, while several people's headphones blasted me with awful pop and salsa and hiphop music, I thought to myself,"Fuck this fucking fucker bullshit."

That's it.