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Bill Schoolman -STOP THE MTA Tax

March 19, 2010 @ 12:00 am EDT


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Bill Schoolman is the owner of Classic Coach and Hampton Luxury Coach. He has been successful as a businessman and in that pursuit he has shown himself to be an innovator.  He came to LIMBA this morning with a message that is difficult to refute or ignore. He accused the MTA of having a 45-year history of fiscal irresponsibility.

The MTA tax  was recently imposed on businesses of all kinds, not for profits, municipalities, and in fact any entity that has employees. Mr. Schoolman is appalled by the tax, and believes it should be repealed. However he has no faith in the legislature in rescinding the tax, but he believes a lawsuit could be successful. He then went into some detail as to why we should expect very little from the legislature. The biggest factor is that the NYC politicians want the tax and they would be able to prevent a 2/3 vote it would take from happening.

Schoolman bases his case on the apparent unconstitutionality of the legislation that created the tax. After researching the state law and the authorities law Schoolman concluded the state constitution was violated 5 times, and once under the Public Authorities law

After focusing some intention on the viability of the lawsuit, Schoolman asked the question, "How is the money at MTA spent". He then cited several bizarre examples for the audience on how they have spent money in the past

  • Example 1. A train mechanic had a gross income $283,000. By manipulating the overtime rules he was able to generate that income so that his retirement can be boosted to $10,000 per month.Mr. Schoolman pointed out that the maximum labor cost in the transportation business should be 41% or less, at the MTA it is 67%
  • Example 2 The MTA uses dogs as part of their security program. The spent $7 million on a new dog house.
  • Example 3 The MTA is building or has built an employee lounge at Grand Central Station costing $20 million
  • Example 4 The MTA built a headquarters building in Manhattan that was scheduled to cost $145 million, but the final cost was $845 million.

Schoolman alleges that these extraordinary contract costs are caused by fraud and total lack of oversight. "The business model is a failure. The MTA should go bankrupt and be sold off to people who know how to make money" according to Mr. Schoolman.

He has a website for his not for profit he has created to fight back. Anyone who would like to join him in his lawsuit go to  www.mtataxpayerabuse.org

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Mike Allen of Soundview Studios will be helping us with the video in the future. Photography for our website is provided by Eagle Eye photography- Jim Mooney