New York City officials are (again) thinking about bringing back a tax on commuters, which when it existed from the 1960's-1990's generated as much as $360 million annually for the City. It was wrong to tax those that cannot vote for you then, and it is wrong now - no matter how politically easy.
NJ residents who commute to NY already pay their income taxes to the Empire State in a highly unusual arrangement that greatly benefits our friends across the river. In addition, NYC is not expected to pay directly for the proposed second rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River, even though the rail line's final destination is New York.
Earlier this fall, we argued against a rental car tax that would be imposed solely at Newark Airport. The argument was that it is bad tax policy for cities to tax each other's residents. When you are spending a non-voter's money, bad spending choices can happen more readily. The same argument holds true here, but this time it would be New Jersey on the short end of the tax collection.
Of course our arguments will be irrelevant to New York officials, which exposes the fundamental problem with this policy: those who would be impacted cannot vote.
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