Hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers are eligible for a mass transit tax break after a new law took effect on New Year’s Day.
Mayor de Blasio and Sen. Chuck Schumer visited the Brooklyn’s Atlantic Ave.-Barclays Center subway station early Monday morning to trumpet the measure, which requires employers with 20 or more workers to allow workers to pay transit costs with pre-tax money.
“We are starting the year off right by putting hundreds of dollars back in the pocket of straphangers and commuters,” de Blasio said.
Previously, participating in the tax deduction was voluntary. About 450,000 workers who didn’t get it can now take advantage, officials say, saving up to $800 a year.
In addition to the city law, under a measure passed by Congress, commuters who use mass transit will be able to deduct up to $255 a month in fares. The limit had been $130 a month — giving straphangers less than drivers who already got the $255.
The old limit was enough for a monthly Metrocard, but New Yorkers who pay $57 a week for express bus passes or $218 a month for LIRR were missing out.
“It was a great injustice, because you could always do this if you drove to work,” said Schumer.
But an effort to allow people to deduct the cost of bike share passes they use to commute failed.
“We tried to get a deduction for CitiBike. That was one of the things that our House Republican colleagues blocked, and we’ll be working on that in the next bill,” Schumer said.
Claudia Morhvi of Dyker Heights, one of the commuters who encountered Hizzoner on the subway platform, said she plans to ask her employer to sign her up.
“I’m going to go to my job to let them know about this,” said Morhvi, who works at a home health agency in lower Manhattan. “It’s a good opportunity for all of us that take the trains every day.”
The city plans to give businesses six months to comply before they’ll be hit with possible fines.
