NY Needs Money So Desperately, It's Considering Charging People To Enter Heart of NYC
The state of New York is facing a budgetary shortfall, in large part due to the ongoing exodus of residents fleeing high taxes and restrictive regulations imposed on the citizenry.
Meanwhile, New York City is facing the longstanding and growing problems of too much traffic congestion from motorists and too few funds to improve and maintain mass transit systems like buses and subways.
Thus, lawmakers in Albany have devised a plan that they believe will address those problems in one fell swoop, but which in actuality could make those issues even worse, if not give rise to new problems and unexpected consequences.
New York CBS affiliate WLNY reported that lawmakers want to impose a new tax on motorists — disingenuously framed as “congestion pricing” — who drive into midtown Manhattan, with the proceeds of that toll ostensibly going toward improvements and maintenance for the city’s buses and subway system.
In theory, the new toll imposed on drivers entering Manhattan — around $11.50 for personal cars, $25 for large trucks — will raise upward of $1 billion annually while also reducing traffic congestion as some drivers avoid entering the area.
Of course, left unmentioned or explained is how a tax that seemingly relies on motorists driving into the city to raise the estimated windfall would work when that same tax also serves to discourage vehicular travel into the city, which would result in fewer drivers who would bring in less than anticipated revenue.
Then again, New York has already shown that it has literacy problems when it comes to the fundamentals of basic economics, so utopian dreams of disparate rewards from the same tax — more drivers pay the toll to raise money while fewer drivers also improve congestion problems — aren’t too surprising.
Some New Yorkers have no problem with the tax on motorists entering Manhattan, as they support the idea of reducing congestion in the crowded city.
There are others, however, who have taken issue with the proposed tax, such as those who live within the toll zone, and would have to pay just to travel to and from their own residence.
Thus, lawmakers are already discussing exceptions to Manhattan “congestion pricing,” a long list of cut-outs that will likely grow longer as more special interests speak out and demand an exception.
As of now, exceptions and a possible “day pass” are already being proposed for residents who live in the new toll zone, those who earn low incomes or suffer from disabilities, and of course, exemptions for emergency vehicles and city-owned vehicles.
It is worth noting that two major thoroughfares that cut through the new toll area — the FDR and West Side highways — are excluded from the surcharge, and lawmakers said that motorists who pass through the area multiple times per day will only have to pay the toll once.
Gridlock consultant and engineer Sam Schwartz told WLNY that he believed the toll would be effective and said, “The bottom line is the city is a competitive city. It is a world city. We can’t have a world city if our transit system is running 65 percent on time and our traffic is moving at 4.7 mph. This will get us back in the ball game to be a world-class city.”
Should the toll be imposed and traffic levels remain the same, the state and city will get the money it is siphoning out of motorists, but will do nothing to improve the congestion issue that prompted the tax in the first place.
However, should the toll result in fewer drivers entering Manhattan, the city will not only lose out on expected revenue from that tax, but also lose tax revenues from businesses such as gas stations and convenience stores and oil-change/tire service stations, among countless others, that rely on the steady flow of drivers and vehicles to help make a living.
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