Earlier this month, New York implemented its widely-contested Congestion Relief Zone tolling scheme, which charges drivers between $9 and $21.60 per day to drive below 60th Street in Manhattan. 

On Jan. 6, the State Department released guidance that exempts employees and personnel from foreign missions and international organizations, including the United Nations, from paying Congestion Relief Zone fees. 

“Wait ‘til the people get a load of this,” New York City Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino told Fox News Digital. “Why should a truck driver from Queens or New Jersey face a new burden of $10K a year for delivering into Manhattan while some corrupt Iranian diplomat gets total immunity?”  

The Queens Republican told Fox News Digital that the announcement of special treatment for United Nations personnel did not “come as any surprise.” Paladino said the U.N. “has been using our city as their personal playground for decades, and the State Department has enabled them with blanket exemptions from the many laws and fines that regular New Yorkers struggle with,” adding, “it’s just one big mess.”

Overhead equipment was installed on New York City streets for the controversial congestion pricing plan, which electronically bills drivers a toll for traveling below 60th St., in order to reduce traffic and emissions, improve New Yorkers quality of life, and urge people to use public transportation. (Getty Images)

Congestion pricing has already had an impact beyond decreasing traffic. The New York Post reported on Jan. 3 that the New York City union for EMTs and paramedics urged its members to transfer from stations within the Congestion Relief Zone because workers making less than $19 per hour could not afford the $45 weekly charge to enter the zone.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department to ask why they issued an exemption for U.N. personnel, how many vehicles were estimated to be exempted by their guidance and whether New York and New Jersey residents ought to shoulder the economic burden of the Congestion Relief Zone while U.N. personnel, including representatives from unfriendly foreign regimes, pay nothing. There was no response.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping ‘s New York-based diplomats will not need to pay the new congestion pricing. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS)

Fox News Digital also reached out to the offices of New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office for comment but received no response.

“As far as economically,” congestion pricing is “probably the worst thing that could happen so soon after COVID,” Paladino added. She said that fixing a “broken city” does not occur “by just doubling down on the middle class and the lower middle class.” 

There are 193 member states of the United Nations, many with missions in and around New York City.