RELEASE: After Gottheimer Questioning, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau Director Chopra Agrees to “Look Into” NY’s Congestion Tax

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, November 29, 2023, during a U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer questioned Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) Director Rohit Chopra, a New Jersey native, about New York’s $23-a-day Congestion Tax “making money off of gouging middle class Americans with exorbitant tolls.”

Director Rohit Chopra agreed to “look into” the Congestion Tax.

GOTTHEIMER QUESTION: “It has come to my attention that some financial institutions are providing favorable credit terms to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the MTA, based on enormous and outrageous fees, including a new $23-a-day Congestion Tax, just to drive into NYC, that will be paid by hard working families, particularly my constituents in New Jersey. You’re a Jersey guy so you know about these issues I’m talking about. We’re talking about charging nurses, cops and firefighters, labor, restaurant workers and other hardworking families $23 dollars a day just to drive into New York City. You understand consumer issues perhaps better than anyone else in this room. Are you concerned at all that financial institutions will be making money off of gouging middle class Americans with exorbitant tolls from their new congestion tax, and will you commit to investigating the revenue that financial institutions are making from the Congestion Tax?”

CFPB DIRECTOR CHOPRA ANSWER: “… I will look into this and get back to you.”

Some financial institutions are providing favorable credit terms to New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) based on enormous and outrageous fees, including a new $23-a-day Congestion Tax, that will be paid by hardworking Jersey families. Gottheimer is concerned that financial institutions will be making money off of gouging middle-class Americans with exorbitant fees from their proposed Congestion Tax. 

Gottheimer asked CFPB Director Chopra to commit to investigating the revenue that financial institutions are making from New York and the MTA’s Congestion Tax.

Video of Gottheimer’s question can be found here.

“New York and the MTA want to pickpocket hardworking Jersey commuters to receive more favorable credit terms by leveraging their $23-a-day Congestion Tax. A core responsibility of the CFPB is to protect Americans from unreasonable and excessive fees. No Jersey resident should be forced to dig into their pockets to fill the MTA’s massive budget deficit and no financial institution should be profiting from the Congestion Tax,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) a member of the House Financial Services Committee. “Clearly this is a serious issue and I appreciate Director Chopra investigating the matter further. I look forward to hearing more from him.”

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