Submitted by Susan, Jan 24, 2008 10:56

While the commission has put forward five potential plans, the thumb is still on the scale for an unfair regressive tax. Only rationing by license plate number even attempts to be even-handed, and is the only plan worthy of any consideration. All the others ration a public facility (the roads) based on ability to pay. Let's try a thought experiment: The most desirable public schools are overcrowded and oversubscribed; instead of allocating seats by lottery or exam, as is currently done, simply turn over the best schools to those who can pay (tell people this will raise money for the other schools, which are underfunded). All hell would break loose, and rightly so.

The congestion tax is precisely analogous. Bloomberg has turned over New York to gentrification, but the rich don't like being stuck in traffic (neither does anyone else). As things stand, the use of the most desirable roads (i.e., the "congestion zone") are, of course, rationed—they are allocated by one's patience and how much you really need to be there instead of by how much you can afford to pay.

And who will pay? Bridge and tunnel tolls will be deducted from the congestion tax, so that commuters (who don't even pay a commuter tax any more, but use all city services), will get a free ride, while only NYC taxpayers, who support the building and maintenance of these roads, will pay full freight. Also exempt (or carrying a trivial $1 surcharge), despite their disproportionate contribution to both congestion and pollution, are taxis and limos, even though they operate almost exclusively in the areas of Manhattan best-served by public transportation—but they cater to the well-off, who cannot be inconvenienced.

And now, in a desperate attempt to salvage this fiasco, the mayor, with a wink and a nod, says he will cut 20% of parking permits. Why only 20%? ALL permits should be rescinded--after all, it's not just government workers who need to get to work--we all do. If they're on official business, they should be in official vehicles, obviating the need for placards. First city workers demand the right to live outside the city, which they get, and then they demand the right to privileged parking so they can get to work. Isn't this the story of the man who murders his parents, then throws himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan? Before a single taxpayer is dunned for the regressive congestion tax, every city, state, and federal government parking permit must be revoked, which would get traffic off the roads as well as out of bus stops, away from fire hydrants, out of no-parking zones, and off sidewalks.

If the city is afraid to confront its own, putting them on the already overcrowded public transportation they tout for the rest of us, then they need to reconsider this transparently elitist express service for the well-to-do and well-connected with their endless belief in their own entitlement.

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