A New Jersey mayor is up in arms over Manhattan’s new congestion pricing zone — and suggesting a retaliatory commuter tax on Big Apple residents.
“We can do the same thing,” Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop told NJ.com a day after lawmakers in Albany approved a toll for drivers heading into downtown Manhattan.
“If NY does a commuter tax that only funds @MTA + exempts NYC residents from the tax – why should NJ not implement a commuter tax on NYC residents leaving NYC that exempts NJ residents so WE can fund our transit,” he tweeted Monday.
“Reality is any commuter tax should be a regional convo not just NY,” he added.
The still-undetermined fees — which will begin at the latest by Dec. 31, 2020 — will be imposed on vehicles entering south of 61st Street as a key measure to fight global warming while raising money for the city’s subway system.
Fulop said that rather than engaging in a “race to zero for both sides,” he would rather see the two states cooperating on long-term transportation planning.
Under the plan, motorists using the Lincoln and Holland tunnels would receive a credit based on what they pay in tolls.
But no break would be offered to drivers using the George Washington Bridge, as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday in a letter to his New York counterpart, Andrew Cuomo.
Steve Carrellas, an official with the New Jersey chapter of the National Motorists Association, said that might lead more drivers to switch from the GWB to the already crowded tunnels.
“New York is not going to care, because it is not creating a new problem for them,” Carrellas told the news outlet.
Another possible outcome is that the new fees will prompt additional Manhattan-bound motorists to switch to mass transit, such as NJ Transit and PATH.
Fulop is concerned that revenues will flow to New York, not to additional trains and infrastructure improvements in his state.
“There’s a lot of different-type transit issues that are underfunded, not just the MTA,” Fulop groused.



