The Fig File for 12.05.08

The Fig File for 12.05.08 by: Mike Figliola

The Fig File: Here’s the way I see it: it’s less mentally debilitating to pay a yearly flat tax than sit in a vehicle day in and day out passing cash to an attendant or waiting for the EZ Pass smiley face to turn green and tell you to go - especially in matters of erroneous taxation that we don’t believe in, need or even know where the money is going to. And even furthermore when it comes to the MTA. George Carlin said it best:

“I’d like to give them a blank check when I enter New Jersey and I’ll sign it when I leave and let them fill it out you know what I mean - leave me out of it!”

As exorbitant as that sounds, it really brings us back to my point many columns ago about reinstating the Commuter Tax. Face it: folks living outside the city use our amenities freely including our transportation services - why include the burden of bailing out the MTA on the already ultra taxed, home rebate deprived and, after the news of this latest budget plan fiasco, super peeved New York City resident? All those living in lovely Edgewater New Jersey and Greenwich Connecticut can bite the bullet and support the town that powers their ‘suburban home feel while maintaining a closeness to city’.  That was out of an actual ad in a the real estate section of a news paper.

One of those peeved New Yorkers, Councilman David Weprin, who heads the City Council’s Finance Committee told me in a phone interview that ‘The Commuter tax should be a major part of the discussion regardless what is done by the MTA The MTA got into this mess - they went from a surplus to huge deficit in a matter of a short time and it is not fair to ask residents to bail out the MTA’. Weprin also relayed to me what residents in his district were saying about the proposed plan: ‘People  living in parts of Queens and Brooklyn will not be able to afford the daily trek back and forth, in some cases, 2 or 3 times back and forth a day if this plan is approved.” I’m not in his district but believe me - I am in that same boat.

He didn’t say anything about a solution less that ‘The Commuter and Payroll tax combined is an intriguing idea’ but added it had to be looked at more closely. Ok, I’ll nibble on that for now but will remain vigilant: one always has to be ready to stock up on 2 dollar a ride Metrocard.