Funds Raised to be used for Class Action Suit to Stop It!
Unyielding opponents of New York’s regressive Congestion Pricing Tax are imploring New Yorkers to donate $15 each to support a class action lawsuit seeking to halt the tax in its tracks, the group Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free today announced. A $15 donation would be the same amount as a single car trip below 6oth Street in Manhattan, once Congestion Pricing begins.
The Go-Fund-Me link to donate is available here. More than $55,000 has already been raised through the link to support the suit, which was filed several weeks ago.
“The MTA’s public hearings were a total sham,” said Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free spokesman Joshua Bienstock. “The Board was always going to approve this controversial plan, regardless of the feelings or testimonies of taxpaying New Yorkers. We now turn to the courts to halt this unfair and destructive scheme.”
Keep NYC Congestion Tax Free, and others, have long argued that:
- Congestion Pricing is unfair to low-income New Yorkers living in transit deserts;
- The Congestion Pricing Tax will actually increase traffic and air pollution in low-income communities with some of the highest youth asthma rates in America;
- Congestion Pricing erects a paywall to enter the exact commercial areas of Manhattan struggling to recover from workforce changes prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic;
- Passenger vehicle traffic below 60th Street has been steadily declining for years. Traffic below 60th Street is largely caused by Uber and Lyft vehicles today, and by ubiquitous bike lanes and other vehicle obstructions caused by the City itself.
- Congestion Pricing will increase everyday costs of goods and services for small businesses and all New Yorkers whether they take public transit, ride a bike, walk, rely on for hire vehicles or drive a car;
- It remains the most inefficient and uncertain source of revenue;
- The best path remains canning this toll-tax scheme and identifying other resources not reliant on any net revenue scheme;
- The state legislature as it approaches the deadline to adopt the State budget still can remedy this travesty, and
- State and Federal courts ultimately will find this action illegal.
“Governor Hochul, Mayor Adams, and other pro-congestion-tax legislators know that an overwhelming number of New Yorkers oppose this asinine tax, but they simply don’t care about the driving public,” Mr. Bienstock continued. “But this fight is not over, and we are grateful to New Yorkers who will be donating to the legal challenge. Our voices will be heard in court.”
