Schumer presses IRS to free up Metro-North riders' commuting funds

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer ventured across party lines Friday, invoking Ronald Reagan’s Cold War era demand of Mikhail Gorbachev, as he called on the IRS to ease the tax burden of Metro-North commuters.

“Reagan said, 'Mr. Gorbachev tear down the wall,'” Schumer during a stop at Metro-North’s Tarrytown station. “We’re saying ‘IRS tear down the wall that prevents people from getting their money.’ Let them have it. They need it. They paid for it. It makes sense.”

Schumer called a press conference to highlight the IRS’ refusal to give commuters access to money employers deducted from their paychecks in pre-tax, commuting accounts.

With commuters working from home during the pandemic, money continued piling up in accounts if workers didn’t stop deductions that could run as high as $270 per month, Schumer said. And now they’ve been told they can’t have access to the money for other uses.

Read more: https://www.uticaod.com/story/news/2021/06/04/sen-charles-schumer-calls-irs-aid-metro-north-commuters/7529207002/
(Utica Observer-Dispatch)