Mobility tax hits home

Don”™t shoot the messenger: The U.S. Postal Service has been delivering thousands of letters from the state Department of Taxation and Finances to businesses in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority”™s 12-county region. Their arrival has many small business owners coming to the realization they are not exempt from the mobility tax of 34 cents on every $100 of payroll.

The bailout plan was passed by the state Legislature as part of its attempt to rescue the MTA from its financial woes and to help with capital projects. The tax has proven less and less popular in concentric circles radiating from New York City as it reaches into places without mass transit, notably west of the Hudson River.

When business owner Sheryl Santi-Luks received a letter from Taxation and Finance, she did a double take. “They list amounts, but then say they are not the amounts I will be paying. I faxed these over to my accountant right away. I know I”™m not the only business owner in the Hudson Valley who thought this so-called ”˜mobility tax”™ was not relevant to them. After all, we all drive to work. But it looks like we”™re going to be paying and paying and paying.

 

“And in the end, we”™ll be paying more than just taxes on our payrolls. Who will really be paying when the municipalities”™ MTA surcharges start coming in? Small business and residents  will be, through our property taxes and whatever other taxes that can be passed along. The money has to come from somewhere and where else will government get it but from the taxpayers and business owners?”

 

Santi-Luks and Women Business Leaders have quickly put together a meeting, where state Sen. Thomas Morahan and Assembly members Ellen Jaffe and Kenneth Zebrowski are scheduled to meet the public at West Nyack”™s Jewish Community Center on Sept. 21 at 7:15 p.m. “We”™re hoping for a large turnout, because people need to understand how much we are really going to be impacted,” said Santi-Luks.

There were two public hearings on the mobility tax and its implications earlier this year ”“ one in Rockland County”™s Palisades Center in West Nyack and another in the town of Newburgh in Orange County. Many small business owners were not aware of them, said Santi-Luks.

Santi-Luks, who owns Santi Express Moving & Storage in Valley Cottage, was notified that the MTA was going to tax her business months ago, but “I tossed the letter away, not thinking it had anything to do with me. None of us uses public transportation. My accountant did mention to me that a new tax was being imposed on businesses, but I thought my business was exempt, and I”™m sure I”™m not the only one that tossed that letter away thinking the same thing.”

 

Santi-Luks said, “I pride myself on doing the right thing. I make sure my drivers have clean licenses. I make sure my employees have health insurance and don”™t have to worry about being paid on time. I make sure my customers get exactly what they pay for and they service is top notch. Because of that, I have lost business to other moving companies  who don”™t care if the drivers have clean licenses or if their services don”™t measure up to what they promise. The economy is bad enough. How does the state expect us to lift ourselves out of this recession if they keep taxing us?”

 

Town of Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack told Santi-Luks the cost to the municipality will be approximately $200,000 a year. “Even our nonprofits are subject to this tax. The schools are supposed to pay and get the money back, but how will that work out?”

Those are just some of the questions Santi-Luks and her business colleagues will be asking Morahan, Jaffe and Zebrowski.

The first installment of the mobility tax will be due Nov. 2. For more information on how the tax will affect businesses, visit tax.state.ny.us/sbc/mta.htm.