Monday, November 24, 2008

Thompson Wants To Save Straphangers With Vehicle Tax

City Comptroller and candidate (not official yet of course) for Mayor Bill Thompson added a new idea to the mix on how to save the troubled M.T.A. from its hard times. Instead of cutting services and jobs, he wants to throw the burden onto those that drive into and around the city. Unlike the current Mayor though, he isn't even mentioning the words "congestion pricing" in his plan.

From The NY Daily News:

Thompson's plan would stick all metro-area car owners with supersized-vehicle use taxes based on the weight of their car.

The sliding-scale tax would be in addition to the sliding-scale, weight-based state registration fee they already pay every two years. That means about $200 extra for cars and $400 or more for heavyweights like SUVs.

"We need to assure that all those who benefit from a healthy transit system will pay their fair share," said Thompson, noting that transit ridership reduces congestion.

Thompson's proposed tax would affect all 12 counties of the so-called Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District served by the MTA - and raise as much as $1.8 billion annually, he said Sunday.

Well first off this is much better than cutting service and hiking the fair by fifty cents or a dollar. The only question is will all of that money go directly towards running the M.T.A.? While the DN only interviews two drivers that sound supportive, many other car owners will not be as thrilled. At least for Thompson he only has to deal with voters in five of those counties and most of the upset New Yorkers will be in the outer boroughs. With that said, if certain guarantees could be made for that money, then eventually more people will be accepting of the raised fees.

For far too long we've put more money into the transit authority without seeing much improvement. Their current proposal makes us pay more to get less, so Thompson at least shifts the burden from those that use mass transit. For the money though, the M.T.A. has to get serious about their finances and run their operation with much less fat. They can toss the public relations team for starters. I do not want to hear how good they're doing with little messages about the 2nd Avenue line and how fares in 1986 weren't that much different than now. Save that space for advertisers. Don't tell us about good things, show us damnit!