New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office has floated the idea of increasing a tax on large New York City employers to help pay for billions of dollars in repairs and improvements to the MTA’s bus and rail systems, three people with knowledge of the governor’s plan told Gothamist.
In closed-door state budget negotiations with legislative staff this week, the governor’s team discussed the possibility of hiking the payroll mobility tax in the five boroughs for the second time in three years, according to the sources, who were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiations publicly. The MTA would then leverage that money to borrow additional funds to at least partially close a $35 billion gap in its five-year capital plan, a list of planned construction projects meant to modernize the subway’s aging infrastructure, including its electrical systems and train yards .
The private talks come as President Donald Trump’s administration has threatened the MTA’s federal funding and attempted to stop a congestion toll on drivers in part of Manhattan, either of which would blow an even bigger hole in the transit authority’s budget…