By New York Post (Opinion) | Created at 2024-11-30 00:21:15 | Updated at 2024-11-30 02:40:43
2 hours ago
The year is 2006.
The New York State Thruway Authority is charging a stifling commuter tax on drivers on I-190.
For tens of thousands of hardworking Southtowners, this toll is a daily burden, hitting their wallets hard as they commute to their jobs in Buffalo.
Gas prices are skyrocketing, families are struggling to make ends meet.
The toll is deeply unpopular, unfair — and unaffordable.
But there’s hope.
A coalition of voices — business leaders, local officials and residents — is loudly demanding change.
Among them: Hamburg Town Board member Kathy Hochul and business leader Carl Paladino.
Together, they successfully sue the state of New York to abolish this unjust tax.
Hochul then, deservedly, positions herself as a champion for working-class families and commuters.
Fast forward to today: Kathy Hochul has undergone a political transformation.
Now governor, she is the driving force behind one of the most regressive and unfair taxes in state history: the so-called congestion-pricing tax.
Under her “leadership,” the state is rushing to charge drivers an added $9 toll, starting Jan. 5, for the privilege of driving into Midtown Manhattan.
This comes at a time when necessities from gasoline to groceries are crushing working families, and the city itself is still struggling to get back on its feet after the pandemic.
No longer is Kathy Hochul the champion of the working families, fighting to protect financially struggling commuters who merely seek to get to their jobs — and still make ends meet.
And never mind the lawsuits and furious opposition she’s sparked, including from entities as diverse as New Yorkers Against Congestion Pricing Tax, the United Federation of Teachers, neighborhood groups, local elected officials, members of Congress from New York and New Jersey, as well as Jersey’s governor.
These voices all recognize the damage this commuter-tax scam will do to families and to the economy of the entire region.
This time around, Hochul is the toll hike’s biggest proponent.
And she’s using the full weight of her authority as governor of New York to force-feed it to the 64% of city residents and 72% of suburban commuters who oppose this stifling tax.
Indeed, Gov. Hochul and MTA Chairman Janno Lieber have used their iron grip over the MTA board to drive the congestion pricing money-grab like a tank, crushing working people beneath its treads.
Even as they flush hundreds of millions of dollars down the drain on worthless, outdated systems like the Help Point emergency subway intercom system, as The Post has pointed out.
And get this: When the governor announced (immediately after the election, naturally) she was hitting the “restart button” on this misguided commuter tax, after having halted it pre-election, she sought to pat herself on the back for somehow saving New York drivers money.
That’s right: Hochul actually claimed that the new $9 commuter tax she was announcing is somehow a tax cut, because it’s lower than the absurd, off-the-charts original plan of charging a $15 toll fee.
Please.
You have to be willfully naïve not to see the $9 fee as one of the most onerous tax hikes in state history.
Yes, Kathy Hochul, who once fought to end tolls for distressed commuters, is now ramming through an extortive pricing scheme that will squeeze every last dollar from working families — all while having the audacity to call it savings.
New Yorkers should know that Senate Republicans stand firmly opposed to this commuter tax.
We’re committed to fighting this scheme and any other policies that increase the already unbearable cost of living in New York.
When we return to Albany in January, Senate Republicans will push for policies to reduce costs for families and businesses.
We’ll advocate for real affordability — not lip service.
And we’ll fight for working- and middle-class New Yorkers who feel forgotten by their government.
New Yorkers deserve better than this misguided, punitive tax. They deserve leaders who will fight for them, not against them.
The fight for affordability is just beginning.
Rob Ortt is the Republican leader in the New York state Senate.
