<p>New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is proposing a steep tax on the city&rsquo;s wealthiest residents to rebuild NYC&#8217;s crumbling subway system. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s time for fairness when it comes to supporting the MTA. That is why today I&rsquo;m calling on Albany to pass a millionaire&rsquo;s tax to support the MTA,&rdquo; said de Blasio on Monday. ;</p>
<p>For a person making $1 million per year, de Blasio&rsquo;s proposal would impose an extra $2,700 in annual taxes. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We need a millionaire&rsquo;s tax so New Yorkers who typically travel in first class pay their fair share so the rest of us can get around,&rdquo; insists de Blasio. ;</p>
<p>The proposal would increase the city&#8217;s highest income tax rate from 3.9% to 4.4%. ;The tax, which would affect 32,000 of NYC&#8217;s richest residents, would bring in $700 million in 2018 and by 2022 would be generating an estimated $820 million each year.</p>
<p>A significant portion of that revenue would go to &ldquo;Fair Fares,&rdquo; a proposal to offer discount MetroCards to low-income New Yorkers.  ;</p>
<p>As he explained in an email statement, de Blasio doesn&#8217;t want &ldquo;riders already feeling the pressure of rising fares and bad service&rdquo; to foot the bill. &ldquo;We are asking the wealthiest in our city to chip in a little extra to help move our transit system into the 21st century.&#8221;</p>
<p><strong>There are two problems with de Blasio&rsquo;s plan:</strong></p>
<p>&bull; Rich residents might leave New York City if they feel they are being singled out (which they are)</p>
<p>&bull; Blasio&#8217;s proposal would take too long to bring in the money needed to fix the ;subway system ;</p>
<p>Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) Chairman Joe Lhota, who recently unveiled a short-term emergency repair plan, says he &#8220;can&#8217;t wait a year&#8221; for funding. ;</p>
<p>De Blasio and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo disagree on who should pay for the $836 million plan.</p>
<p>Cuomo believes the state should split the cost, but de Blasio argues that NYC has already committed over $2 billion towards the state&rsquo;s 5-year, $29 billion transit system capital plan and shouldn&#8217;t have to spend any more. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;We need two things: immediate action, and a long-term modernization plan,&rdquo; insists Cuomo. &ldquo;One without the other fails the people of the city.&rdquo; As Cuomo pointed out on Sunday, it could take up to a year for de Blasio&#8217;s tax proposal to be approved by the state legislature. On top of that, the Republican-led New York Senate has shot down similar tax proposals by de Blasio in the past. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The city should partner with us and match the state funding now so we can begin Chairman Lhota&rsquo;s overhaul plan immediately and move forward,&rdquo; said Cuomo. &ldquo;We cannot ask New Yorkers to wait one year to start repairs.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>&#8212;</p>
<p>Problems with New York City&#8217;s aging subway system include severe overcrowding, an outdated signal system, and trains that are breaking down much more often than in the past. ;</p>
<p>According to an analysis conducted by <em>The New York Times</em>, the Lexington Avenue line is regularly failing to meet its schedule. ;</p>
<p>Dozens of trains are cancelled each day, which reduces the system&rsquo;s capacity by tens of thousands of people. The overall on-time rate for trains is about 65%. For the Lexington Avenue line, the on-time rate is sometimes as low as 35%.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re at a point where the congestion is stifling the growth of New York City,&rdquo; argues Lhota. ;</p>