Subsidy Sheet: Hochul sabotage of congestion pricing could directly cost 100k NYS jobs

June 28, 2024

Governor Kathy Hochul’s refusal to turn on NYC congestion pricing could cost 100,000 well-paying jobs across the state and cause massive economic damage from the cancellation of more than $12 billion in MTA contracts. 

A June 26 report from Reinvent Albany shows the MTA is a huge direct economic engine for New York, and paid NYC-area businesses $35 billion for goods and services from 2014 to 2023. Just as importantly, the MTA is also the key catalyst to a regional economy that produces about 10% of US GDP and connects the largest labor market in the United States to the largest job market. 

Hochul’s disastrous – and illegal – decision shows her administration is fundamentally clueless about how public investment supports economic growth. They do not seem to understand that investing in public infrastructure is inherently massively more productive than paying money to corporations to create jobs. 

Billions invested in the MTA foster economic growth by efficiently bringing labor and employers together and improving access to goods and services. Giving billions to the film and TV industry creates jobs, but results in no other public benefit. How many New Yorkers would choose $7.7 billion in romcoms and horror movies over better subway, bus, and commuter rail service? 

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NY corporate giveaway news from this week:

  • Gov. Hochul and Sen. Schumer pressured the state and federal officials to accelerate a review of the STAMP site in upstate Clay, NY (Investigative Post).
  • A new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy shows how corporate tax breaks drive inequality. Key findings:
    • “Corporate tax cuts and corporate tax avoidance worsen racial economic inequality.”
    • “The ratio of white wealth to Black wealth and the ratio of white wealth to Hispanic wealth, which are both exceedingly high, would be a fourth lower today if not for disparities in ownership of corporate stocks.”
    • “Corporate tax cuts and corporate tax avoidance hurt all U.S. households.”

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