LIA calls for rail commuter incentives

The Long Island Rail Road's decline in ridership, which now places it as the nation's second-largest commuter line -- it had held the No. 1 spot for decades -- gives added emphasis to the fight to restore a recently-expired tax break for commuters that had saved Long Island riders hundreds of dollars a year, said Long Island Association president Kevin Law.

In a tough economy such as this one, Law said, it is extra important to provide rail commuters with tax breaks that encourage ridership.

Law late last week wrote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner urging that they restore a federal commuter tax cut that was allowed to lapse at the end of 2011.

The tax benefit allowed commuters to set aside a portion of their salary, pretax, to cover commuting costs. "We need to be incentivizing people to commute via mass transit," Law said.