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• Apr 9, 2008 12:08 am US/Eastern
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  'Millionaire's Tax' Could Fund NYC Mass Transit

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'Millionaire's Tax' Could Fund NYC Mass Transit

Democrats' Answer To Congestion Pricing: Tax Anyone Working In State Making $1 Million-Plus

ALBANY (CBS) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan may be dead, but Assembly Democrats do have a plan to raise money for mass transit: tax the rich.

It's what Albany calls a "millionaire's tax."

Yes, billionaires like Bloomberg will ante up, too.

Under the plan, people who earn over $1 million in New York state will pay an income tax surcharge of about 3/4 of 1 percent for five years. In all, it would raise over $5 billion for mass transit.

Supporters say that of the 75,000 affected taxpayers, about 35,000 don't live in New York.

"They could be ballplayers at Yankee Stadium, Shea Stadium, Madison Square Garden," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told CBS 2 HD. "They could be Wall Street people who live in Greenwich, Conn., or Princeton, N.J."

And with everyone scratching their heads Tuesday about how to fund mass transit, Gov. David Paterson named former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch to head a commission to look for revenues.

"I am announcing there will be a blue ribbon commission," Paterson said.

Ravitch told CBS 2 HD that he's up to the challenge.

"Obviously, it's a tougher task with the defeat of congestion pricing because that would have provided 20 percent of what the apparent needs are," he said.

Although Bloomberg wouldn't support the so-called "millionaire's tax," Ravitch is open to it.

"Any revenue – any hockable, borrowable revenue – is a good thing," he said. "I take it any way the Legislature wants to give it to me."

Commuters are thrilled with the idea.

"It's a good thing – they should pay their fair share," Manhattan resident Michael Neal said.

Added Manhattan resident Janice Bastuni: "I think it would be a wonderful thing to pay. The mass transit system needs it."

And an interesting side note: 18 percent of the new revenue would come from the 426 taxpayers who make more than $35 million a year, with Bloomberg, of course, being one of them.

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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