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FEBRUARY 2015 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 17 Te administrative problems caused by the confusing transit commuter tax ben- eft scenario, along with the fundamental unfairness of the U.S. government pro- viding a greater incentive for people to drive to work, have not gone unnoticed. For the past several years third-party benefts providers such as Edenred and Wageworks, in cooperation with transit advocacy groups such as the American Public Transportation Association, have advocated for permanent parity between the transit and parking portions of the transit beneft. More than 100,000 letters have been sent to Congress by disgruntled commuters through the Commuter Bene- fts Work for Us coalition website. With the support of transit champions such as Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), James McGov- ern (D-MA), Michael Grimm (R-NY) and Peter King (R-NY), this movement has been slowly gaining momentum on Capitol Hill. In December, these eforts came ex- tremely close to paying of. In an early ver- sion of the tax extenders bill, Senate and House leaders agreed to make a number of tax extenders permanent. As part of this package, negotiators from the Senate Finance Committee (led by Democrats) and the House Ways & Means Committee (led by Republicans) agreed to include a provision to create permanent parity between the transit and commuter portions of the commuter beneft at $250 per month. Unfortunately, this version was scuttled due to objections over unrelated provisions, and an eventual veto threat by President Obama. Te result was that Congress was forced to enact the one-year retroactive fx instead. Despite coming close to achieving per- manent parity in the 113th Congress, there is still reason for optimism. Te new Con- gressional leadership for the 114th Con- gress has set continuing tax reform as a priority, meaning there should be further opportunities to enact the same legislation. Furthermore, the demonstration of bipar- tisan cooperation on this issue is encourag- ing. Despite the fact the one-year extension provided little actual fnancial assistance for commuters, it was important that the measure remained part of the extenders package last year, as that measure will serve as the basis for new legislation this year. Te major question in the coming year is will the now all-Republican-held Congress be able to work with the President to enact meaningful tax reform, and will the bi-par- tisan support for the permanent parity pro- vision carry over into the new package. www.MassTransitmag.com/ 12033271 Peter Dean is the director of Dean & Dean Consulting LLC. The 2015 International Rail Safety Seminar & Expo returns to Orlando, Florida this spring. Since 2012, this educational rail safety event has attracted over 500 attendees from more than 20 countries and pre- sented more than 100 international speakers. A broad range of topics are planned including: • Safety and Risk Assessment • Accident Prevention & Analysis • Detection and Warning Systems • Security Technology and Practices • Train Control Systems & Methods • Derailment Prevention • Vehicle and Track Interaction • New Technologies and More Attendee, Presenter & Exhibitor Information at: www.RailSafetySeminars.com The 2015 Bus Safety Seminar & Expo is a brand new educational seminar and expo dedicated to the criti- cal area of Bus Safety. Modeled after the successful rail safety event, Bus Safety 2015 will cover a wide range of related safety and security topics. Visit www.BusSafetySeminars.com for details on attending, presenting or exhibiting at this new educational event. For more information, visit www.MassTransitmag.com/12015849 The fact remains that this issue enjoys wide support from Democrats, significant support on the Republican side, and virtually no opposition.