NEW YORK, NY — The taxman cometh for livery car riders as well.
A little-noticed provision in the state budget adopted by the Legislature in April imposes a sales tax on livery car, limousine and corporate black-car trips.
Taxes on Livery Cabs, Unnoticed in State Budget, Go into Effect Monday
NEW YORK, NY — The taxman cometh for livery car riders as well.
A little-noticed provision in the state budget adopted by the Legislature in April imposes a sales tax on livery car, limousine and corporate black-car trips.
Passengers begin paying the new tax – 8.375% in the city – Monday.
In the five boroughs, the statewide tax will generate about $25.6 million for Albany’s coffers and an equal amount for the city. Less than $1 million will go to support mass transit.
As expected, news of the added cost – another in a slew of tax hikes, new fees or raised fees in the state budget – was not well-received by drivers and passengers who use local livery car services, many of which operate in the city’s poorer neighborhoods.
“Minimum wage is still $6, but everything else is going up,” said Jesus Garcia, 18, waiting for a livery car outside Harlem Hospital with his two younger sisters. “We only use car services when we absolutely have to. Now, it’ll be less affordable than it already was.”
Moussu Toure, 47, a driver for Malcolm Car Service, saw many problems ahead.
“People already get out of my car saying they can’t pay,” Toure said. “If you go to the police, they need a lot of information. You waste a lot of time and you still get nothing.”
The state budget didn’t create a new tax but expanded the targets of a service tax to include trips in these so-called for-hire vehicles.
There are approximately 2,700 livery cars licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission to carry passengers in the city, along with 8,600 black cars and 5,223 limousines.
The sales tax is to be collected by the driver and forwarded to the state by the car service or the base with which a driver is affiliated.
A separate transit-funding bill approved earlier this year imposes a 50-cent surcharge on each trip in a yellow cab to help subsidize subway, bus and commuter train service provided by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
That hike goes into effect in January.
Burech
This tax is the silliest I’ve yet to hear!
What will happen is the driver pockets the extra almost ten % to his pocket.How is anyone going to know how many trips the driver had that day to prove how much he owes?
Obviously there is an “eitza” for that:Big Brother surveilance on anyting and everything we do!Maybe that’s what the ultimate plan is.Russia is coming, get ready!
That-s not all that-s coming
Better practice taking small breaths. As we speak air meters are being developed to tax the air we breathe.
Inheritance Tax Guide UK
More people in our country are beset with problems concerning the constant changes in inheritance tax laws. Confusion as to what are really the rules and regulation with regards to inheritance tax