RELEASE: Gottheimer Paints Bullseye on Congestion Tax in 2026 Funding Bill
House-passed Funding Bill Will Launch Federal Investigation into NYC’s Congestion Tax; Congestion Tax Continues to Whack Hardworking Jersey Families; Goes After Mismanaged MTA
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5) announced that the government funding legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week will fight back against New York City’s crushing Congestion Tax.
The bipartisan legislation directs the U.S. Department of Transportation to launch a full federal investigation to study how the Congestion Tax hits hard-working commuters, especially in communities where public transit is unsafe, unreliable, or simply nonexistent.
The legislation passed by the House also states that federal transportation policy should not endorse tolling programs that disproportionately burden one group of commuters, such as New Jersey drivers coming into New York City, in order to subsidize others, such as MTA transit riders.
The legislation also states that there are numerous reports of longstanding operational inefficiencies, fare evasion, and mismanagement within the MTA that have contributed to its financial instability and increased reliance on policies like the Congestion Tax to close budget gaps, rather than implementing needed internal reforms.
“For Jersey families who already pay some of the highest taxes in the country, this outrageous Congestion Tax continues to be an outright slap in the face,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-5). “It’s a commuter tax, plain and simple — and it targets hard-working Jersey families to bail out an MTA that refuses to get its own house in order. This bipartisan legislation that just passed the House will help fight back against the crushing Congestion Tax.”
The federal study will break down the exact toll burden by ZIP code, evaluate whether commuters have real transit alternatives, and scrutinize a decade of MTA spending, inefficiency, and fare evasion. It also requires concrete recommendations to fix the MTA’s finances without squeezing Jersey drivers for more cash.
Gottheimer has led the fight against the Congestion Tax from day one and will continue fighting back against policies that tax New Jersey families and reward MTA’s mismanagement.
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