To Fund Subways, NYC Voters Prefer Millionaires’ Tax Over Congestion Pricing
When it comes to funding repairs to the New York City’s subway system, voters prefer a tax on the wealthy over a toll for motorists entering Manhattan. According to a Quinnipiac Poll published Friday, when asked to choose, 64 percent of voters favor the tax, while 21 percent prefer congestion pricing.
Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed the “Millionaires’ Tax” last August after Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for the transit system. The tax would generate approximately $800 million a year by imposing a .5 percent increase in income taxes on city residents who earn over $500,000 annually. De Blasio says funds would be allocated toward both subway repairs and subsidized fares for low-income New Yorkers.
City voters oppose congestion pricing by 52 to 40 percent overall. The plan would impose tolls on vehicles entering Manhattan from four East River Bridges, which are currently toll-free. It would lower tolls on the Verrazano and R.F.K bridges, which serve areas without other transit options.
Manhattan was the only borough in which the majority of voters supported the plan, 58 to 37 percent.
Subway rider Kaitlyn Watson of Manhattan had a simple solution to the debate between the two solutions: “Both sound best.” Watson said that as a commuter who uses subways, buses, and bicycles to get around, “the less people use personal vehicles for transportation, the better off we all are.” Aside from generating a projected $1.5 billion dollars a year, congestion pricing could reduce traffic during peak hours and pollution from vehicles stuck in gridlock.
The publication of the poll came one day after Cuomo appointed a panel to study congestion pricing. The panel will study different pricing models and report their findings in December so legislators can consider the proposal when they reconvene in 2018. The poll surveyed 822 registered city voters from September 27 to October 4, with a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.
The Millionaires’ Tax and congestion pricing are two solutions that don’t involve increasing the MTA’s outstanding debt to banks and bondholders. In May, the MTA board approved the issuance of $1.6 billion in bonds to fund capital programs and expansion projects. Last week, board members approved the issuance of an additional $600 million.
The MTA is $38 billion dollars in debt, a number that will increase to $43 billion in the next five years. According to the MTA’s 2018 Preliminary Budget, 17% of the authority’s spending goes to debt repayment.
At a meeting for the community organization Riders Alliance in September, MTA Board Member Veronica Vanterpool cautioned against increasing debt to pay for expansion. “We have a transit system that was basically built on a credit card,” she said. Vanterpool supports both congestion pricing and the Millionaires’ Tax. Such options, unlike fare increases or cuts to employee pensions, don’t place the burden on lower and middle class New Yorkers, she said.
“Transit users are the only ones always on the hook to meet their obligations to funding transit,” said Vanterpool. “Any proposal that’s on the table is fair and viable, as long as every funding partner upholds their obligation to the system.”
