Taxing Tuesday: The Return of Trump and NYC Congestion Charges!

Can I have more soda taxes to cheer me up?

Soda taxes are my Cheerwine!

No, I haven’t heard about new soda taxes… yet. But with the re-election (after an interregnum) of Trump, I have heard about the return of a few taxes, fees, and charges….

Hochul to re-start the congestion charge

As it was, New York Governor Hochul had no right to suspend the NYC congestion tax already passed and was supposed to go into effect before the election. (Yes, this is my — and other people’s — opinion. See my prior post here: Jun 2024: Hochul's Congestion Pricing Hokey Pokey: More Reactions)

No, it wasn’t really about environmental impacts.

Yes, it was about revenue.

Yes, it was about traffic.

And the timing of this is about politics.

The question is where the revenue replacement will come from… if anywhere?

However, this summer it was deemed to be politically inconvenient to remind voters what joys come with Democratic governance, so Hochul decided to suspend the tax.

It is now more convenient.

CBS: NYC congestion pricing could start by end of 2024 as Gov. Hochul aims for cheaper tolls, sources say

NEW YORK -- Gov. Kathy Hochul is moving forward with a plan to "unpause" congestion pricing soon by lowering the proposed New York City toll rates by 40%, sources tell CBS News New York. 

Fresh off a lollapalooza of an Election Night that included the approval of Proposition 1 and U.S. House seats flipping blue, the governor told lawmakers and the MTA she intends to turn on the toll collection cameras that surround Manhattan's Central Business District.  

Hochul wants congestion pricing to become a reality and drivers to start paying by the end of the year, multiple sources said. 

….

New York City, state and federal officials have to give the green light before congestion pricing tolls can be collected. The MTA would also have to approve the lower rates. 

Documents have already been signed by the feds and city officials, according to sources. The last signature needed would be from State Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez, a Hochul appointee. 

As a reminder, this is the schedule of fees originally proposed:

That top-line amount of $15 for regular passenger vehicles would be dropped to $9, for instance.

Do you think people would be happy with that?

Congestion Pricing: Not All Areas Will Benefit

In the thread, people pointed out that the MTA’s own study showed that various local outer borough roads would see higher volumes due to drivers attempting to avoid the congestion tolls on the bridges and in Manhattan. One such road would be the Cross Bronx Expressway, specifically at the Macombs Road “hot spot”:

From Oct 2023, Spectrum News NY1: What you need to know about NYC congestion pricing (Updated Jun 2024, when Hochul suspended)

According to an environmental assessment by the MTA, the number of vehicles entering the congestion zone daily would decline between 15% and 20%, and daily truck traffic could decline anywhere from 21% to 81%. These drops would significantly lower carbon emissions in the congestion zone, which would contribute to better air quality and assist the city’s efforts to address climate change.

However, areas outside the congestion zone would likely see traffic and pollution increases – especially in the south Bronx along the Cross Bronx Expressway and on the Staten Island Expressway – as motorists seek detours around the new tolls.

Here is the deal: the South Bronx is known for communities with high incidence of dangerous childhood asthma:

The reason there was a quote-tweet on Lee Zeldin is that Zeldin is from New York, and it is interesting how many New York Republicans are finding places in the new Trump administration. Zeldin had lost against Hochul in the last gubernatorial race, in 2022.

For New York, Zeldin did pretty well in 2022:

In the prior election of 2018, the Republican got only 36% of the vote. Before that, in 2014, 40%. And in 2010, only 34%.

Zeldin did extremely well.

More reactions

He is linking to Politico: Hochul moves to revive Manhattan toll plan after Trump win

Congestion pricing, which former Mayor Mike Bloomberg proposed for Manhattan in 2007, is meant to reduce traffic and improve air quality. But certain areas of the region stand to see higher short-term pollution as trucks reroute to avoid tolls. Tolling foes, including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and the New York City teachers union, have seized on that threat in lawsuits aiming to block the policy.

A federal judge in New York rejected their arguments, while a case is pending in New Jersey federal court that could still delay congestion pricing even if Hochul restarts it.

Yes, I pulled two specific paragraphs from the piece. You could read the whole thing.

Reality when you need to be elected

Laura Gillen is a Democrat from Long Island, and unlike whoever is tweeting for NYC New Liberals, she represents a constituency. She knows she should not be a snot about it. Because she probably wants to get reelected.

This is the deal about being a politician in New York who gets elected: you will notice that on some very key issues, there will be no difference between Democrats and Republicans.

Because a politician who did not take certain stances simply would not get elected for certain constituencies.

If the little snot tweeting about the Long Island constituency of Laura Gillen needing to take the LIRR, the bus, or other mass transit in all cases had a job dependent on getting elected from her district… a district that flipped from Republican to Democrat control in this election, mind you:

This is where it is:

I wouldn’t want to drive from there, but I can imagine some locations where driving would be easier than mass transit, and frankly, different people have different issues. I can imagine all sorts of things.

More to come

There will almost definitely be more to hammer out on this issue.

As I noted when Hochul suspended the congestion charges in the summer, the big problem was that the MTA needs the revenue. As unpopular as the congestion charges are, she has to do something.

There are concentrated interests against congestion pricing and more diffuse interests to support it. Then there are the practical issues surrounding implementing the charges before Trump is inaugurated. What fun.