Thousands of yellow cab drivers have signed a petition against a mandatory tax that charges them six cents per fare.
The fee mandated by the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission will go towards a “disability insurance
and health-care navigation services” fund. The money is meant to help taxi drivers get healthcare and disability coverage as required by the Affordable Care Act, but full-time driver Warmann DiPoumbu said cab owners still don’t know what that really means.
“We don’t know where the money is going, and we don’t know on what purpose,” said DiPoumbu. “We have not been explicitly well-advised to that account.”
Taxi drivers, like DiPoumbu, argue the money collected from this fare tax is unnecessary because the New York State Department of Health has already set aside $13.25 million for all five city boroughs to fund identical navigation services.
According to documents provided by a spokesperson for the petitioners, “Rather than setting aside money for actual health insurance premium, the vast majority of funds are to be distributed to navigation services that are already budgeted for under the Affordable Care Act. This is a formula for immense potential insurance fraud.”
“The goal from this petition is to hold the city accountable and [to have] this tax revised,” added DiPoumbu, who said he signed the petition Wednesday morning.
The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission did not respond to our request for comment.
Kris Venezia 