Not that this is anywhere close to being approved, but as someone who moved out of NYC limits but still works here, I’m curious … what would this cost me if Mike’s tax dream went through? (I don’t see the actual percentage listed in any of the stories.)
I will have to look for a cite but I believe he was proposing that the commuters pay the same tax % as the residents. Strictly a political ploy so he can accept a smaller, more realistic, % and still say that he won.
IMO they should never have repealed the tax in the first place but Pataki wanted to look good to non NYC residents and since the economy was in good standing at the time it was easily passed. Yes there was much debate over it but we were able to afford the lost income back then so the policitcians voted in favor so they could get other concessions and get the State budget passed.
That’s exactly what they say in the article: cut taxes for NYC residents (so you don’t have riots), then have commuters pay an equal amt. of taxes. This amt. would be about 6 times what the old commuter tax was … but no one says what the “old” or “new” percentages actually are, just that it would yield a billion dollars in revenue.
And we should probably avoid the IMHO/GD material. ( http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=166558 ) I have some opinions on the matter, obviously, but that’s not what this post or forum is about.