MTA Tax Revolt is Wilting

The planned revolt against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s mobility payroll tax is wilting. A January 28 roundtable at Fratelli’s in Mahopac, hosted by the Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce, was originally intended to formalize a way for local businesses to resist the tax, but the movement appears to be turning in a different direction. Assemblyman Greg Ball, who is organizing the roundtable, still wants businesses to join his plan to embarrass Albany, but local businessmen are gripped by fear of offending the authorities.

“People would like to revolt, but I’m quite sure they would be extremely nervous and would not want to get arrested [for refusing to pay the payroll tax],” said Kevin Bailey, president of the Putnam Economic Development Corporation. “Business owners are law-abiding and don’t want to get into trouble.”

Ball, on the other hand, remains defiant. “Sadly, Big Brother has done a good job over the past several decades of appeasing the taxpayers through refund checks and otherwise, and scaring small business owners into submission,” Ball said. “Many businesses are expressing a fear of being audited or being reviewed by the state. My suggestion is that there is safety in numbers, and by just taking the steps to formalize this result, will send a message to Albany.”

When the MTA tax was approved by the legislature last year, Putnam County officials voted to withhold the county’s payment, in a “tax revolt.” Legislator Mary Ellen Odell called for “civil disobedience.” But in August the revolt was vetoed by County Executive Bob Bondi. The legislature did not attempt to override the veto. Legislator Tony Hay said that the revolt would cost taxpayers more in penalties, and the will of the legislature fizzled.

But at the end of 2009, Assemblyman Ball, who is seeking Vincent Leibell’s state senate seat, called on local businesses to organize a formal revolt in an attempt to shame Albany into revoking the tax, and announced his late-January roundtable to hammer out details and build political will.

The plan developed by Ball would have business owners pay their mobility taxes into an escrow account, rather than to the state. Officials from Albany would then face the public embarrassment of physically collecting a check representing the taxes paid in by participating businesses. If Putnam’s businesses back down from even this less-defiant stance, last August’s capitulation would be repeated on a larger scale.

Though the January 28 roundtable has been billed specifically to outline such a plan, business leaders in Putnam are downplaying expectations of a formal tax revolt, and instead are seeking to use the meeting for the less grandiose purpose of improving relations between businesses and elected officials.

“I’m certainly not an advocate of doing anything against the law,” said Peter Bardunias, executive director of the Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce. “We’ll hear both sides of the issue and let the business community digest it and move forward.”

Some suggested that Thursday’s roundtable turn to issues other than the MTA tax. “I’d like to see more open communication between elected officials together with the business community; that’s my vision for why we’re doing it,” said Jennifer Maher, president of the Mahopac-Carmel Chamber.

“There are lots of issues we’d like to discuss,” Bardunias said, “including the sin tax on the consumption of soda pop.” Bardunias said that Putnam businesses feared that sin and mobility tax increases would drive PepsiCo out of nearby Somers to another state. The vacated office space, in Westchester, could hurt Putnam’s efforts to attract businesses.

Since the MTA’s board is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate, the public has little recourse to change MTA policy directly.

Some business leaders have signaled skepticism about their ability to pressure Albany and the MTA. “I don’t expect too much of this meeting, to be honest,” said Bailey, adding, “The only thing that can change this tax is the MTA itself.”

Ball hopes to continue making his case. “We must send a message, otherwise we’ll continue to be nickeled and dimed by increasing taxes and fees and regulations,” he said. “If we can’t make a stand on this, where can we make a stand?”

State Senator Vincent Leibell has a different perspective. “At the end of the day, I voted against the MTA bailout package, and I was very aggressive on the floor; it’s a tragedy for the state,” he said. “It’s easy for a politician to say, ‘Don’t pay it,’ but there are a half dozen fees,” Leibell noted, saying that resistance carried consequences that could include not just audits and fines but imprisonment. “A responsible elected official would not recommend that,” said Leibell. The senator noted that though he disliked sounding so partisan, “If Republicans controlled the senate—just two more votes—this never would have seen the light of day.”