- The Edge
#69- Where are you pulling that little gem from?
No, nevermind, I don't want to know..
Or do I?
- Joclyn
#66, So, if you are only taking the subway because you have to work here and you have to carry heavy things, your MetroCard is free?
- ironybubble
p.s.: within the five boroughs this makes sense.. but all of the other counties? holy crap. that affects so many people that have damn near nothing to do with nyc and it's problems.
- ironybubble
ending free street parking is a horrible idea.
do go ahead and tax the shit out of luxury vehicles though.
- The Edge
#65- No, because it's kind of difficult to haul hundreds of pounds of tools and equipment everywhere.
Just FYI.
- Joclyn
Do contractors, electricians, plumbers, and the like have to pay the same price as everyone else for Metrocards, even when the fare goes up?
- The Edge
#63- Genius! And how to do you propose they figure out who should and should not get taxed that $200 you're proposing?
Contractors, electricians, plumbers, and the like should also get charged this extra $200?
- Joclyn
Privatize the MTA and charge people who both live and work in Manhattan, but still somehow drive to work, a road use fee of $200/month. Leave the people alone who *have* to drive through Manhattan (like people who live in Brooklyn but work on the Jersey side of the GW.) Or let them all go on strike again; fire them and start over.
- The Edge
#60- So you're going to be happy with paying a lot more than that $100/yr for your vehicle?
- hanuman
As long as the MTA continues to be this grossly incompetent, they will still raise fares. Once this tax is in place it will be way too hard to repeal it, and all the fares will still go up. Middle class car owners will be poorer, and subways will still stink.
Fix the MTA, not tax us innocents.
- AlpineIllusion
#59 Because in addition to the many times that public transportation suites my needs perfectly fine, there are many other times were I go places in Queens or Long Island for personal or business reasons and those trips are not feasible via public transportation. I do have to agree that Manhattan is the only borough where you can really get anywhere in a timely manner. The subways in Queens and Brooklyn are concentrated in select locations, and buses are a joke.
- The Edge
#51- By your logic, wtf do you own a car?
- cpb1220
This is ridiculous. I live in Riverdale and it's so inconvenient to take public transportation. It takes me an hour and a half on a bus or subway to get to work in midtown, but I can drive there in 30 minutes... so obviously I opt to drive. Car owners shouldn't be required to pay extra for the buses and subways that they likely don't take because the service to where they live is awful.
Oh well. This just gives me a better reason to keep my car registered in NJ instead of NY.
- edEx
GREAT IDEA. NOW DO IT!
- NannyState
So there's this story out there that the MTA and other mass transit systems sold their rolling stock to banks in a leaseback arrangement that allowed the banks to use the depreciation on those assets to get a big tax advantage. So the whole thing revolves arond that tax loophole but then it gets plugged up and not only could the banks no longer buy subway cars, but transit systems became liable for huge break up fees when the insurance on these deals, underwritten by, you guessed it, AIG, blew up. Now the transit systems are in dutch for huge sums of money and are begging for a handout.I'd like to see the MTA get the money upon their release from prison.
- Tower18
If you live in Chicago and operate a vehicle, you pay an additional $75 to the city for a sticker. I don't think any of this goes directly to public transit, unfortunately, but it makes sense...hey look, user fees! You want a car, pay for it.
I don't think I agree that this should be charged for all the metro counties though...the 5 boroughs should be enough.
- Scout1
Maybe if the MTA provided better service more people would be willing to use it. How about trying to make taking mass transportation more convenient than driving? That should do the trick.
This country is quickly turning into a socialist state. This is crazy.
- Rfive
cars should be taxed more. $30 a year is a paltry sum, and should go up. if you drive escalade dipshit, you should also pay more.
I don't really want the mta to have access to these funds to pay for their worker's fake disability or just their general misue of funds. don't let the mta "bosses" get their grubby paws and use it as bonus compensation either.
just burn it.
- rcltrh
I'm just wondering what the hell the city would have done had we not had the housing bubble hit and make the pigs go into a feeding frenzy with the income from higher taxes and wall-street bonuses. If the past 10 years were made normal - where houses and apartments here were still only slightly higher than middle America (I paid less than 100K for my house in Williamsburg about 10 years ago). Hell, until 9-11 houses/apts weren't really all that ridiculous in most parts of the city. So what would we be doing now if prices would have remained with the same 2-3% increases that the past decade showed? The city and MTA both BLOATED itself on all these gains. Its time to cut the fat out of the government and MTA and let them survive on what they should have had all along. It can be done and not on the backs of the citizens. Why does every plan the mayor and MTA have call for us to try to keep the status quo on money paid into the city. Cut out the bloat and quit renaming bridges and crap thats wasting what money they have.
- AlpineIllusion
#44 I own a car, live in Queens, and frequently use the subway system.
- lagomorph
People are already paying far more for housing than nearly anywhere else in the country. Plus we pay a massive city tax. Don't forget beer is not $5 for a budweiser in most parts of the country.
If that didn't drive you out of town, I don't see how an extra $200 annually on top of the expense of gas, insurance (also much higher than elsewhere), repairs, and parking tickets is going to drive you out of town.
If this is the straw that breaks the camel's back, have fun in South Dakota. Crack open a $1 brewski for me.
- Kojak
True that Dark. It was the staple of the auto industry for a long long time, and Ford screwed it all up. And some wonder why the car industry in this country is in such a dire condition...
- FrankMartin
I will be cheating even more on my taxes if this goes through.
I did wallpaper the 1/2 bath in my 5th home with discarded metro cards. I love that shade of yellow.
Now I'm off
to do donuts in the dunes
Go ahead
smell my fumes
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