Don’t Want Congestion Pricing?

Then let’s reinstitute the commuter tax:

Mayor Bloomberg issued a full-throated call for the tax to be reinstated yesterday, after the speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver, reportedly said he was open to reviving the measure, which some supporters estimated could bring the city $500 million a year.

Several City Council members also are pushing for a return to the commuter tax, saying such a move could help stave off the 7% increase in city property taxes that the mayor has warned could be necessary to balance the budget in the middle of this budget year. The city is facing projected budget gaps of $2.3 billion next year and $5.2 billion the following year.

The tax of 45/100ths of 1% on the earned income of people who work in the city but commute from elsewhere had been on the books for 33 years, but was repealed in 1999, over the objections of Mayor Giuliani. It is estimated that the city has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues since state lawmakers repealed it.

When asked yesterday about Mr. Silver’s openness to a new commuter tax, Mr. Bloomberg said at a City Hall press conference that he could not agree more with the speaker.

“I’ve been screaming about commuter taxes for as long as I’ve been here,” he said.

Mr. Bloomberg said he would be happy to try to lobby the Senate majority leader, Dean Skelos, to revive the tax, but cautioned that an effort to bring it back would likely provoke opposition from state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. A reinstatement of the commuter tax would require the approval of Albany lawmakers.

(Is congestion pricing to the commuter tax as Harriet Miers was to Samuel Alito?)