"New York City Transit Strike" Fact of the Day
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To review: A big sticking point in the labor negotiations in the New York City transit strike is pension policy. Under the current package, transit workers qualify for a defined-benefit pension at age 55 with 20 years of service. The MTA dropped a request for the retirement age of new hires only to rise to 62; the TWU not only rejected that request but instead demanded that the retirement age be dropped to 50.
You might have already known this; it's been widely reported.
But here's something that hasn't been widely reported, and which I only remembered because my father is a retired NYC police officer:
Pensions of retired state and local government employees in New York State are exempt from state income tax.
So not only do the transit workers already get an abnormally generous pension, but they also get a huge tax break on it -- at the expense of all New York taxpayers and not just bus and subway riders.
Continue enjoying your improvised commute...
You might have already known this; it's been widely reported.
But here's something that hasn't been widely reported, and which I only remembered because my father is a retired NYC police officer:
Pensions of retired state and local government employees in New York State are exempt from state income tax.
So not only do the transit workers already get an abnormally generous pension, but they also get a huge tax break on it -- at the expense of all New York taxpayers and not just bus and subway riders.
Continue enjoying your improvised commute...
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Posted by Kip on
20 December 2005
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