NEW YORK, NY November 24, 2008 —City Comptroller Bill Thompson has a plan for plugging the MTA's budget hole: make car and truck owners pay hundreds of dollars more in vehicle registration fees. WNYC's Arun Venugopal has more.

REPORTER: Comptroller Thompson's payment structure is based on weight: if you own a tiny car, like a Toyota Yaris, you'd pay about $100 extra dollars in registration fees each year. But if you drive something really huge, like the 6,000-pound Lincoln Navigator, you'd pay $430 more. Thompson says his plan would reduce congestion and pollution, and could provide the MTA with $1 billion dollars a year.

In part, because he wants to charge drivers not just in the five boroughs but in seven adjacent counties. Today, his proposal goes to the Ravitch commission, which is trying to come up with long-term ways of raising funds for mass transit. The MTA is facing a $1.2 billion deficit. For WNYC, I'm Arun Venugopal.

HOST: Thompson also supports renewal of the commuter tax, saying it could generate $762 million a year.