Bailing out the MTA with a $1 surcharge on taxi trips is apparently as unpopular in Albany as it is in Manhattan.
The very Republicans whom Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith had hoped to sway by using new taxi-tax revenues to fill the MTA’s budget gap and fund upstate road improvements panned the plan yesterday.
“It’s an insult to upstate — and downstate,” said state Sen. Martin Golden (R-Brooklyn). “We’re going to put $200 million in taxes on the backs of the cabdrivers and the people who live in the City of New York.” Smith (D-Queens) had hoped his proposal — which also includes payroll, car-rental and vehicle-registration surcharge taxes — would get Republicans and Democrats alike to vote to stave off massive MTA fare hikes.
“I would rather have the tolls,” said Gov. Paterson, referring to a plan to toll now-free bridges. “But it’s a plan worth considering and we’re looking at it.” Smith vowed he would get enough votes to pass the bill in the Senate.