In March when MTA fares rose from $2.50 to $2.75 for a single ride, and from $112 to $116.50 for a monthly pass, everyone was pissed. So brace for this: a new report issued by Comptroller Scott Stringer and pointed to by Gothamist uncovers that New Yorkers pay $130 per month per household in taxes to the fiscally unstable organization. That's almost like buying one monthly MetroCard every month and then immediately throwing it onto the tracks. Yikes.
Gothamist goes so far with the report to deduce that the taxes New Yorkers pay the MTA, combined with the $5.31 billion riders amass in trips every year contributes more to the agency than the MTA itself contributes to riders and infrastructure upkeep. While that seems dubious, there's no doubt that not enough money is going to the agency that has a $34.1 billion debt and a $14 billion budget gap. Stringer sees one of the fixes for the hurting agency as roping the state into contributing more. In 2014, the state offered $603.5 million to the MTA, which is a mere 4 percent of its operating budget.
· NYC Households Pay An Extra $130/Month "Invisible Fare" To MTA, Report Finds [Gothamist]
· All MTA coverage [Curbed]
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