Thursday, October 1, 2026
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer said most Long Island Railroad (LIRR) commuters are entitled to large tax breaks but don’t know it, so he went to the Mineola train station, armed with applications and explained how to receive the new benefits to railroad riders on Jan 4. Schumer said communters can receive about $1,000 a year through a communter tax benefit.
Schumer announced that the recently passed tax ‘extenders package,’ the Protecting Americans From Tax Hikes Act of 2015, includes an extension of the ‘mass transit tax benefit,’ which would help cut costs for mass transit commuters. Parity for the parking and mass transit benefit expired on Jan. 1, 2015, dropping the mass transit pre-tax savings to only $130.
But a new provision that establishes permanent parity between the mass transit and parking benefit was included in the recently passed tax extenders package. Qualifying mass transit commuters would be able to receive up to $250 per month for 2015 and $255 per month for 2016 in tax deductions, with a cost-of-living adjustment after 2015.
According to the LIRR, an average of 301,000 customers use the commuter railroad each weekday; Schumer said that with the passage of this legislation these customers would be eligible for higher tax deductions to save them hundreds of dollars a year.
Schumer was the original author of the legislation that provided parity between the mass transit and parking benefits, and will once again give LIRR riders both rairoad and parking costsparking costs.
Currently an individual making $60,000 of taxable income taking the current full mass transit deduction would only be able to save $390 a year. With Schumer’s provision that same individual would be able to save $765 next year taking the full mass transit deduction, a savings of $375.
In 2013 alone, approximately 700,000 New York area commuters saved over $330 million through this benefit. Schumer said the benefit in 2013 covered up to $245 per month from a person’s wages to help pay for their mass transit commutes and provided parity with a previous benefit only extended to drivers’ parking costs.
For more information or to receive an application go to www.schumer.senate.gov or call (631) 753-0978.
