This interstate rivalry is really starting to take a toll.
A group of New Jersey lawmakers hope to strike back at New York’s plan to toll Manhattan car trips — by charging their own toll on New York drivers, and using the money to reimburse Garden State drivers slugged with the Big Apple entry fee.
“New York is going to attack our wallets and attack our families,” said US Rep. Josh Gottheimer, NJ.com reported. “We’re going to give them a taste of their own medicine.”
Gottheimer appeared in Paramus, NJ, along with other Bergen County Democrats to blast New York’s planned fees, which once enacted is supposed to raise $1 billion per year to help pay for much-needed mass transit repairs.
While New York’s congestion tolls are to-be-determined, a 2019 state panel proposed charging car drivers $11.52 per trip and more than twice as much for trucks.
Gottheimer and his crew’s counter-punch would consist of a sales tax for out-of-state drivers at every crossing on the New York/New Jersey state line.
“We simply cannot expect a robust recovery and return to in-person work to be successful while workers needed in New York City are being penalized simply for going to their jobs,” said state Sen. Joe Lagana, according to NJ.com.
Many residents of New Jersey opt to take mass transit intead of driving. Danny Pearlstein, spokesman for the NYC-based Riders Alliance group, noted that New York drivers already pay Jersey taxpayers to use the Turnpike and Garden State Parkway.
“Congestion pricing is the centerpiece of the plane to revive the New York City transit system, which is something everyone in the region benefits from,” Pearlstein said. “Everyone has a stake in congestion pricing working out well.”
New York’s MTA recently got the green-light from the federal government to move ahead with the congestion fees — though no timeline has been set for them to begin.
In a statement, MTA senior advisor Ken Lovett questioned the legal viability of Gottheimer’s prosed counter-tax.
“This isn’t the time for NIMBYism and legally dubious taxation. Congestion pricing will benefit everyone who comes to New York, including those from New Jersey, by providing reduced traffic and better air quality,” Lovett said.
“We are at the beginning of a transparent process that will take into consideration potential credits, discounts and exemptions for tolls paid on bridges and crossings, and that process must play out.”
