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WPCNR THE LETTER TICKER. New York-June 28 Special to WPCNR From New York Congestion Tax Free. June 28, 2023:

(Editor’s Note: Yesterday Governor Kathy Hochul officially announced the Federal Highway Administration had approved congestion pricing tolls beginning at 60th Street in Manhattan. A target date for the Congestion Pricing to begin is May 2024.)

If New York moves forward with a congestion pricing tax in Manhattan south of 60th Street, expect a raft of new transportation taxes across the state within the next few years.

NYC Congestion Tax Free, a diverse coalition of civic and business leaders that opposes the controversial new tax on the grounds that:

A. it won’t reduce traffic — it will only move it into other communities;

B. it will unfairly burden low-income New Yorkers for traffic caused by wealthier citizens in ride-share vehicles;

C. it will increase truck traffic and youth asthma rates in inner-city neighborhoods already suffering some of the highest asthma rates in the country;

D. it will erect a paywall around the exact commercial tax-base areas of Manhattan that New York City and New York State are ostensibly trying to revive post-covid, potentially losing more net tax revenue than it raises.

Bottom-line, it will fail to achieve every claim made by its advocates but for imposing higher taxes and costs on too many New Yorkers.

“There are so many reasons to oppose this unfair and counterproductive tax, but the most alarming aspect of its implementation may be the precedent it would set for new transportation-related taxes across New York State,” said Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free spokesman Joshua Bienstock.

“Make no mistake about it, once this tax goes through, it will be open season on drivers across the state. New York is one of the most taxed states in America, and our state leaders never stop looking for new ways to take more money out of our pockets.”

If New York moves forward with the Congestion Pricing Tax, Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free predicts that:

1. Congestion pricing taxes will be implemented across New York State as the State and municipalities sniff out additional revenues; 
2.  Towns and villages will begin charging drivers for entering their jurisdictions; 
3.  Congestion tax rates will steadily increase, just as bridge and tunnel tolls have; 
4. The State will adapt the technology to continuously monitor the speed of drivers across the state — and to tax them for transgressions, and   
5.  A tax on car mileage will be passed to address electric vehicles that don’t pay New York’s tax on gasoline. 

“Government leaders don’t want this tax for environmental reasons; they want money, and this will be a whole new taxation avenue for them,” Mr. Bienstock continued.

“Many are opposing this tax as a standalone assault on city drivers, but opposition goes far deeper than that. Hand New York the right to tax moving vehicles, and just watch what happens. This nightmare is only beginning.”