Businesses that were supposed to help bail out the MTA with payroll-tax collections are instead getting a free ride that’s costing the agency hundreds of millions of dollars, Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch said yesterday.

The scrimping is partly to blame for the $200 million budget shortfall that can be made up only with more service cuts, he said.

“The collections from the payroll tax , which was the source of the revenue expected this year, have declined, in part because of the economy and in part because a lot of people are not complying with the law and not paying the tax,” Ravitch said.

He told NY1 the state would sic its auditors on the deadbeats.