Site visitors congestion in Manhattan in June 2023.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
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New York is the richest metropolis on the planet, with a mixed complete wealth of greater than $3 trillion {dollars}. That’s greater than the GDP of Canada and most main G20 international locations. One in each 24 New Yorkers is a millionaire. But someway, in essentially the most regressive and merciless tax scheme doable, we’re funding our public transit system on the backs of the town’s most susceptible, low earnings immigrants: our Uber and Lyft drivers.
Earlier this yr, you may need learn that Governor Hochul “paused” New York’s much-debated congestion tax, supposed to fund the MTA. However that’s not totally true. The congestion tax was designed in two phases. The primary part began in 2019 and was supposed to provide the MTA the cash it might want to organize for the inflow of passengers that may include part 2. The Governor solely paused part 2.
So who remains to be being taxed? It’s not the business supply vans that block full lanes of visitors and pollute our air. Neither is it rich commuters of their Vary Rovers and Cyber Vehicles. The one automobiles topic to New York’s congestion tax are the town’s for-hire automobiles, the Ubers, Lyfts and taxis pushed by 100,000 of the town’s lowest earnings, most susceptible immigrant staff.
Driving for-hire automobiles in New York barely pays the payments. Neglect residing paycheck to paycheck, the employees who drive for Uber and Lyft live fare to fare, cashing out every day simply to afford meals and gasoline for the following.
Even with our groundbreaking efforts to extend pay and safe some advantages, the 80,000 principally immigrant households who depend on Uber and Lyft earnings are nonetheless teetering on the sting of financial catastrophe, starvation, and homelessness.
For greater than two years, Uber and Lyft drivers with my group, the Unbiased Drivers Guild, fought for the safety of a minimal livable wage. Once we lastly gained a livable wage in 2018, New York additionally handed a congestion tax on Uber and Lyft journeys under 96th St. After which an airport tax. After which Uber and Lyft started locking drivers out of their apps so as to get round paying New York’s minimal pay charges.
In a current survey, greater than 9 in 10 New York Metropolis rideshare drivers reported lowered weekly earnings, and 86 p.c mentioned they battle to pay their payments or hire. Lack of ability to afford meals for his or her household, worry of changing into homeless, and melancholy, stress, and suicidal ideas had been among the many issues drivers reported. But these are the employees and households New York officers flip to many times when it comes time to fund our metropolis’s infrastructure and clear vitality future.
The congestion tax on Uber and Lyft drivers has already supplied the MTA with effectively over $1 billion. That’s along with a gross sales tax of practically 9 p.c on each Uber and Lyft journey (taxis are exempt) and a Port Authority tax on each airport decide up and drop off (non-public automobiles are exempt). Uber and Lyft drivers have contributed greater than their fair proportion.
So, as Governor Hochul and state leaders think about reviving the congestion tax, keep in mind this: Uber and Lyft drivers already pay their fair proportion. Cease choosing the pockets of New York’s poorest households. Look elsewhere and don’t double-tax those that are least in a position to pay.
Brendan Sexton is President of the Unbiased Drivers Guild, the nation’s largest rideshare driver group and an affiliate of the Machinists Union.
