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Mayor Mike proposes reservation tax to fund MTA

by Benjamin Kabak

While Richard Ravitch and his commission are hard at work identifying potential sources of revenue for the cash-starved MTA, Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t letting the issue pass him by. Bloomberg, ever the businessman, calls upon the state to collect taxes on Indian reservation cigarette sales. For the past 14 years, since the Supreme Court decided that states could collect taxes on reservation sales, New York has opted not to enforce this rule, and Bloomberg writes that the taxes would amount to $800 million annually or just enough to cover the MTA’s budget deficit. I wouldn’t say “no” to this idea, but I’m sure the same politicians who won’t push congestion pricing aren’t going to sign up for this one either. New York City and its transit system is stuck in neutral, and Albany is to blame.

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3 comments

Chris August 6, 2008 - 2:25 pm

Is Albany really all to blame? What about the unions and the MTA leadership? The TWU, the construction unions.. how can all these public construction projects be so huge, running over-time and over-budget? Especially when private construction industry has been booming and delivering projects on-budget and under-time?

Something doesn’t add up.

-Chris

Reply
Alon Levy August 7, 2008 - 8:17 am

The shortage in raw materials has been affecting both public and private construction.

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Anon. August 10, 2008 - 7:28 am

While NY can legally collect taxes on cigarettes sold on reservations, the major Indian tribes have the legal right to, among other things, blockade and shut down route 81 and route 17, both of which are built on reservation lands.

On balance, I think the state’s taxpayers would prefer not to have that confrontation again.

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