From the NY Times:The Manhattan borough president, Scott M. Stringer, will call on Tuesday for restoring New York City’s long-abandoned suburban commuter tax to help stabilize the finances of the region’s creaky mass transit network.
Mr. Stringer, a likely candidate for mayor, does not have the power to restore the tax in his current post and would not be able to do so even if he were to win the mayoral election next year. Any new tax would require approval by the State Legislature.
But a revival of the commuter tax, which was in place for 33 years before it was eliminated by the Legislature in 1999, has been quietly promoted for years by transportation experts who argue that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs more-dependable sources of revenue to avoid routine fare increases and service cuts.
