Press Release: Use Infrastructure Money to Avoid Harmful NYC Congestion Tax: Group.

 

Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free.

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Statement from Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free

Spokesman Joshua Bienstock on Infrastructure Bill Money.

November 9, 2021

 

“Passage of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill gives New York the out it needs on a counterproductive congestion pricing plan that would significantly damage efforts to revive Manhattan’s commercial districts south of 60th Street.

 

“Money for the MTA is now available without adding a new and regressive tax on New Yorkers, and we should seize upon this once-in-a generation opportunity.

 

“New York must not inhibit economic regrowth in midtown and downtown Manhattan, especially with a scheme that would increase asthma rates in low-income communities and punish suburbanites and outer borough residents living in transit deserts. A congestion pricing tax, moreover, would simply move traffic — caused by for-hire vehicles not commuters, incidentally — into residential Manhattan communities.

 

“These infrastructure dollars are exactly what we need to avoid a costly mistake.”

 

 Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free represents a diverse coalition of civic, business, and labor organizations and businesses throughout New York City. We share a simple vision: to keep our city congestion tax free. Our coalition opposes the imposition of tolls to enter the City's (Manhattan) Central Business District ("CBD") via toll readers installed on City Streets or on the City's FREE East River and Harlem River Bridges. Our members previously opposed the $8 fee ($21 for trucks) that then Mayor Bloomberg proposed to impose on drivers entering Manhattan below 86th Street and all subsequent iterations of so-called congestion pricing, including the most current scheme that proponents advocate charging drivers as much as $25 per day ($125 per week; over $500 monthly; more than $6,000 annually) to enter the CBD! Our members urge New Yorkers to deliver a simple message to our legislators: "Say no to any toll-tax fee scheme that seeks to charge us to enter Manhattan's CBD." Many supporters and coalition members propose alternatives that better address traffic issues in our entire City and provide new and fair sources to support mass transit.