WHITE PLAINS – State Senate candidate Bob Cohen (R,I,C – 37th District) today warned MTA commuters of another massive fare hike beginning on January first as part of the Legislature’s multi-billion dollar plan to bailout the troubled authority. Senator Oppenheimer cast the deciding vote on the measure in 2009.
“The obvious solution is to make the MTA run more efficiently, not to add new taxes on struggling employers and hike fares for commuters,” said Cohen. “But career politicians like Senator Oppenheimer always find it easier to throw more tax dollars at their problems – even as they become more and more scarce. She’s driving up costs for commuters while doing nothing to reform the deeply seeded problems of the MTA.”
In addition to adding a new payroll tax on every business, non-profit group, and municipality in Westchester County, the Oppenheimer plan raises fares for commuters by as much as 9.4 percent in January depending on their route.
“There is a whole list of new taxes and fees that would have been avoided had Senator Oppenheimer voted in the interest of her constituents instead of the Albany special interests and political bosses,” said Cohen. “Here is one more to add to the list. It seems that when your only commute is up the Taconic to Albany for 26 years, you lose sight of what the rest of us go through.”
