MTA payroll tax ruled unconstitutional; Westchester, Putnam joined suit | Bedford Hills Real Estate

A state Supreme Court justice ruled Wednesday that a payroll tax paid for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority by residents in New York City’s surrounding counties, including Westchester and Putnam, is unconstitutional.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Nassau County officials in 2010. Westchester and Putnam counties, as well as other municipalities in the Lower Hudson Valley, later joined the lawsuit, which aimed to have the MTA tax overturned.

In a statement after the ruling, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino called the decision “good news.”

“The MTA payroll tax is essentially an unfunded mandate from Albany,” Astorino said. “In this case, we were allowed to challenge it. We did. And now we’ve won an important victory with the court’s decision that this unfair burden on taxpayers was unconstitutional.”