New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. (I, D, WF-Sag Harbor) today vehemently opposed the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s proposal to fund its $32 billion 2015-19 capital program with the MTA Payroll tax. If this plan were to be implemented it would essentially make the tax permanent because the payroll tax would be used to back bonds, for up to thirty years.

The payroll mobility tax, created in 2009, charges employers in the MTA region 34 cents for every $100 of payroll. In 2011 the State Legislature permanently eliminated said payroll taxes for small businesses with annual payrolls of $1.25 million or less per year. The same year the Legislature also eliminated MTA payroll taxes for those who are self-employed and earn less than $50,000 per year. In addition, it exempted schools, both public and private, from having to pay the tax.

Assemblyman Thiele stated, “The MTA payroll tax is an unfair, job killing tax. Here on the East End, we are paying for a service we barely get. It’s unconscionable to expect the East End to continue to pay for billions of dollars of capital projects that won’t even benefit us.”

Before this MTA proposal is instituted, it must go before the State Legislature.

“The State should not even consider blessing this plan. Instead we should permanently repeal MTA payroll. We can no longer place this burden on our counties, towns, villages and businesses. Eliminating the MTA payroll tax will put Long Island back on the path to economic prosperity. It’s time for the Legislature to act before it’s too late.”