Bloomberg's Commuter Tax: Keeping the Streets Clear For Him and His Friends

While some readers may be aghast that I am calling New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg's "Congestion Pricing Plan" a "tax," the carefully-packaged plot must be accurately described as such. Media coverage of the new commuter tax took a favorable tone, as opposed to all the outrage over former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's proposed commuter tax on those living outside the city. Bloomberg was heralded by fellow elites as a great mind for making the drive around Manhattan's business and high-end districts easier for them. In the meantime, Bloomberg still looked like a "man of the people" to the public. In recent months, the publicity over the new commuter tax refurbished talks of the Mayor mulling an "independent" run for President.

To review the Bloomberg Commuter Tax, drivers would be charged an additional $8 ($21 for trucks) to be allowed to pass below 86th Street. Doing the math, a typical commuter from Orange, Rockland and Westchester Counties would have to pay an additional $2000 of their hard-earned salaries just to be able to go to work. This, of course, is added to the already-expensive road and bridge tolls along with parking lot fees and wear on one's car. It costs less to get mugged there.

While the final public hearing on the Bloomberg Commuter Tax goes on today, although there is considerable opposition to the plan as announced, the City Council will surely use this discussion as an opportunity to find another more creative but less noticeable way to rob the average commuter, like adding more toll booths to random bridges or raising other prices elsewhere.

Bloomberg tried to justify the Commuter Tax by saying it would increase use of mass transit. That might be fine for people from the immediate suburbs, but there is not a sufficient amount of trains coming from places like Orange or Dutchess Counties, where an increasing number of commuters to New York City live. If Bloomberg wants to keep the streets clean so he and his rich elite friends can use them and keep us out of their sight while doing so, then at least throw us a proverbial bone and make sure enough mass transit is offered before making an attempt to dispose of us riff-raff. This is exactly what Michael Bloomberg thinks of the same people he might soon have to rely upon as he weighs a potential run for President in 2008 or beyond.