A week later, after Governor Cuomo and the newly appointed head of the MTA called for residents to make extra money in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The New York Times reports that mayor de Blasio has proposed to introduce a luxury tax to Finance repair of underground and subsidizing MetroCards for low-income passengers.
The tax proposal, which will be announced on Monday, will bring approximately $800 million a year by increasing income tax by 0.5% for individuals who earn more than $ 500,000 and couples with a budget amounting more than $1 million the Bulk of this money will be used to repair the subway and buses, and about $ 250 million will go to Finance the program Fares Fair, which provides cheap MetroCards for low-income residents of new York.
«Instead of sending invoices working families and passengers of the subway and city buses are already feeling the pressure of growth rates, we will ask the wealthiest residents of our city to take a bite from your capital a bit more to help to move our transport system on rails of the 21st century,» the mayor said in a statement on Sunday.
The proposal will require the approval of Governor Cuomo and state legislators, and may face difficulties in the state Senate controlled by Republicans. But the project has already started, says state Senator Michael Gianaris, whose plan a «tax on a million» served as the inspiration for the proposal of the mayor.
Some members of the city Council also commended the support of the municipality in relation to Fares Fair, which for many came as a surprise after repeated failure of the mayor to provide money for the program from the budget.
Also the head of the MTA, Joe Lhota, welcomed the plans Blasio on funding for the city, noting that «now that the MTA doesn’t need the money, we are pleased that the mayor changed his position.»
The obvious solution, according to Gianaris, is that Cuomo called a special legislative sessionso lawmakers can immediately vote for a new tax proposal.
