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The Hill: Commuter Tax Benefit Gets GOP Champion

Tuesday July 03, 2012

 

 
By Keith Laing
 
A Republican lawmaker from New York has filed a bill to make the tax benefit given to people who use public transportation systems to get to work equal to the one given to workers who drive. Rep. Nan Hayworth (R-N.Y.) said this week that it was not fair to give people who choose not to drive less of a reward then people who contribute to traffic congestion. "I’m introducing the Commuter Savings Act to provide our mass-transit users with the same benefits that drivers now receive,” Hayworth said in a statement released this week by her office.  "Times are tough, and I want to do all I can to save our constituents’ hard-earned dollars.”
 
Hayworth's introduction of the measure gives a Republican champion to an issue that has long seen support from Democrats in both the House and Senate. Democratic lawmakers in both chambers have argued for restoring a $230 commuter tax benefit that expired at the end of 2011. 
 
Hayworth's office said the measure she was introducing would be co-sponsored by fellow GOP lawmakers Reps. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Robert Dold (R-Ill.).
 
Lawmakers had considered including the commuter tax benefit in the recently approved surface transportation bill. The benefit, which was included in the 2009 economic stimulus, reverted to $125 at the beginning of the year, while the benefit for parking was adjusted to $240 dollars.
 
A provision raising the commuter benefit back to its 2011 levels was included in the Senate's original version of the $105 billion transportation bill, but it did not survive the conference negotiations with the House. Transit groups have expressed dismay at lawmakers for leaving the provision out of the new highway bill.
 
“More and more Americans are relying on public transportation to get to and from work, school, the doctor and other daily tasks and this bill will hit them right in the pocket,” Amalgamated Transit Union Larry Hanley said in a statement when it became clear the provision would not survive the transportation conference. Hayworth said this week that her bill would give a lot of those public transportation users some relief.
 
"This bill will give a break to more than 70,000 Hudson Valley neighbors who are helping us to reduce congestion on our roads and streets," she said.
 
The original article by The Hill's Keith Laing can be found here.