Bloomberg questions MTA tax repeal

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Friday questioned why upstate taxpayers should pay for the partial repeal of the payroll tax for mass transit.

Long Island lawmakers pushed to repeal the tax on employer payrolls in the 12 counties served by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"They've said to the MTA, 'Oh don't worry about it. We'll give you the money out of general funds,' " Bloomberg said of state lawmakers on his weekly radio show. "General funds means everybody in the state pays. . . . You've shifted the burden to the entire state."

The tax was imposed as part of a bailout of the MTA in 2009 and was intended to provide a steady source of revenue to pay for $6.8 billion of borrowing for capital projects. The tax brought in $1.35 billion last year, according to MTA budget documents.

The state must make up the $310 million difference between what the tax would have collected before the partial repeal and what it will collect going forward.

Bloomberg said people are asking, " 'Why should somebody upstate be paying for mass transit in the New York City region?' "

The mayor said he supposed the answer was that as the economic engine of the state, New York City exports money to other counties.

"We're all in this together," he said.

Mark Hansen, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Rockville Centre), said that in Nassau and Suffolk counties about 90,000 businesses will no longer be paying the tax.

"It's clear that getting rid of the tax was a priority for downstate and we were able to get rid of that," Hansen said.

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's office did not respond to requests for comment on Bloomberg's remarks.

In a statement, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said, "The millionaire tax will fund critical needs throughout New York State, including schools, hospitals, roads, bridges, and mass transit."