Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to propose a “millionaires tax” to fund our broken subway and create half-price MetroCards to low-income commuters. Here’s everything you need to know.
Nothing has caused New Yorkers more of a headache recently than the sorry state of our subway. Over just the last few months we’ve seen everything from derailments to breakdowns. We’re at a point where the most reliable thing about the subway is the delays. But, what is to be done to fix our rundown trains? Mayor De Blasio has a plan.
Mayor Bill de Blasio will propose a “millionaires tax” that aims to use wealthy New Yorkers to help pay for desperately needed repairs to the city’s subway system. The tax will also provide the means to offer half-price MetroCards to low-income straphangers.
A recent report by the New York Times states the Mayor will likely announce the tax proposal on Monday. This will come two weeks after Joe Lhota, MTA chairman, announced a 30-point action plan to fix the ailing subway system, including removing the seats from selected train carriages.
De Blasio’s tax, if passed, could generate as much as $800 million every year. The lion’s share of that money, some $500 million, would be put towards repairs and maintenance, and the rest would be used to fund the half-price MetroCard program for low-income NYers.
The Mayor is expected to hold Governor Andrew Cuomo to his word when he said $8 billion in state funding would be put toward subway repairs. It is unclear whether Cuomo’s “sponsored subway” plan would factor into that budget.
Featured image source [Wikimedia Commons]