Taxpayers could be footing more of the MTA’s proposed bailout package than originally expected, a Post analysis shows.
Under a plan released last week by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch, all businesses, nonprofit agencies and government entities in the city and the seven suburban counties the agency serves would pay a one-third of 1 percent tax on payrolls to help close a $1.2 billion budget gap.
Yet some of the largest payrolls belong to the city, state and the MTA itself. Together, they would provide about 8 percent – more than $127 million – of the $1.5 billion Ravitch hopes to raise.
And when the government pays more, the taxpayers usually do, too. Or they get less.
“The money has to come from somewhere,” said David Turetsky of the Independent Budget Office. “Unless you raise additional revenue to pay that payroll tax, you’re effectively just drawing from existing resources.”
The proposed payroll tax still needs approval from the Legislature.
Still, if it is OK’d, taxpayers would supposedly be spared from drastic service cuts and fare hikes that the MTA says would be necessary without it.
Under Ravitch’s plan, which also includes tolls on East and Harlem river bridges and regular, but smaller, transit fare increases – next year’s fare hike would drop from a proposed 23 percent to 8 percent. Several bus and subway lines on the chopping block would be saved.
In the years after that, the payroll tax money would go toward major projects such as new construction and purchasing subway cars.
But a hard-hit group under the plan includes nonprofit organizations, many of which fear that the added payroll cost could take away from some of the services they provide.
“[It’s] outrageous,” said Marcia Stein, executive director of Citymeals-on-Wheels. “We make no profit. None. It’s all services. Every $6 we don’t have is a meal we don’t serve. And we are bringing food right to the doors of 17,000 homebound New Yorkers.”
But advocates say the tax will actually help businesses, because it guarantees a steady funding stream for mass transit.
“Every business in the region depends on the transit system to operate,” said Christopher Jones of the Regional Plan Association. “It’s a way of sharing the burden broadly.”
Additional reporting by Stephen Nessen
tnamako@nypost.com