Bloomberg Considering Yet Another Tax For New York City

This time, he's considering a congestion pricing scheme that will charge people who enter Manhattan by car. It isn't bad enough that New York City has the highest tax burden of anywhere in the country, but Bloomberg wants to saddle those that enter the City with even more taxes.

Make no mistake about this. While it is couched in the form of a fee, it has the effect of a tax - the government is forcing payment of yet more money to go to some nebulous and dubious goal - reducing congestion in the City to ostensibly comply with a goal of reducing emissions in the region.

The fact of the matter is that people are going to drive in to Manhattan because they have no choice. Commuters from Rockland, Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York and New Jersey residents would bear the brunt of this, but New Jersey stands to gain the most as well. People and businesses may well decide that the costs of doing business in New York City have gone over the tipping point and it is cheaper to do business elsewhere.

Congestion pricing will also simply shift the traffic and congestion elsewhere in the City and the emissions gains will not be seen. If the City truly wants to do something about emissions reduction, demand that the City, State and Federal government get on board with the idea of nuclear power along with tidal and other renewable power sources. In the interim, state and federal officals have to do more to approve new power generation facilities that rely upon clean burning coal and oil that are far less polluting than the power generation facilities they replace. With the City needing more power than ever and no end in sight for the need to produce power, new power generation facilities are absolutely necessary and it makes sense to do so using technologies that produce the least emissions.

Additional incentives to reduce emissions - such as installing high efficiency lights, or other measures to reduce energy expenditures makes sense (Energy Star appliances, better insulation and money-saving tips that reduce power burdens for example not only save consumers money, but save energy as well). Taken together, those items will do more than a congestion pricing scheme that simply empties the pockets of commuters and businesses that work in the City.