The NYC Car Tax · for press & researchers

A data kit you're free to reuse.

An independent analysis of New York City's own public parking and camera-violation records. Every figure below carries its primary source. Copy any stat, embed any chart, or take the whole summary — no permission needed, attribution appreciated.

For press — copy this

An ~85-word summary plus the load-bearing stats, ready to paste straight into a CMS.

Timeliness hook: search interest in “fight nyc parking ticket” is up +3,550% (Google Trends, 12-month breakout, US)

New York City billed drivers $1,150,827,735 in parking and camera fines in fiscal year 2026 — roughly 43,300 tickets a day. But the people who write the tickets often skip their own: a single NYPD officer’s personal truck racked up 547 camera tickets and kept driving; diplomatic plates owe six figures the city literally can’t collect; and defaced or “no-hit” plates paid just 16% of what they owed. Honest drivers cover the difference. The NYC Car Tax is an independent, interactive analysis of the city’s own public records.

  • $1,150,827,735 billed in NYC parking + camera fines, FY2026 (~43,300 tickets/day). — NYC Dept. of Finance, Local Law 6 report, FY2026
  • ~$1 billion in parking + camera fines left unpaid, cumulative 2017–2022. — NYC Independent Budget Office
  • Diplomatic plate 001THD: 1,989 tickets, $223,265 unpaid — immunity makes it uncollectable. — NYC Open Data nc67-uf89, per-plate aggregate, pulled October 22, 2026
  • Defaced / “no-hit” plates paid only 16% of fines owed (valid plates paid 63%). — NYC Council, “Plate and Switch,” Aug 2025
  • $108 million in speed-camera revenue lost to ghost & defaced plates in 2023 alone. — NYC Comptroller, FN22-095A
  • 95,000+ city parking permits issued in 2022; enforcement “uneven and inadequate.” — NYC Dept. of Investigation
  • 5,133 tickets for agency parking-permit misuse in all of FY2026 — $333,645 billed, $313,187 collected — against those 95,000+ permits. — NYC Dept. of Finance, Local Law 6 report FY2026, Tables 1, 2 and 4h
  • The officials who pay: the numbered City Council plates (DMV class NYC) carry 101 tickets and $0 owed; Supreme Court Justice plates (SUP) 360 tickets, $18,405 billed, about $900 owed. — NYC Open Data nc67-uf89, per-plate aggregates, pulled October 22, 2026
  • 547 camera tickets on one NYPD officer’s personal truck — barred from department vehicles since June 2026, still on the force. — Streetsblog NYC, Apr 23 and Jun 26, 2026

Stat blocks

Each card copies as plain text — figure, plain-English gloss, and source line — ready to drop into a story.

$1,150,827,735
billed in NYC parking + camera fines in FY2026 — up 2.07% from FY2025’s $1.13 billion.
Source: NYC Dept. of Finance, Local Law 6 report, FY2026. [report]
~43,300
tickets a day — 15,796,179 parking + camera violations issued in FY2026.
Source: NYC Dept. of Finance, Local Law 6 report, FY2026. [report]
~$1 billion
in parking + camera fines left unpaid, cumulative 2017–2022.
Source: NYC Independent Budget Office, Apr 2023 letter. [letter]
1,989 / $223,265
tickets / unpaid on diplomatic plate 001THD — immunity makes it uncollectable. (003THD: 1,921 / $217,835 · 118THD: 1,392 / $151,850.)
Source: NYC Open Data, Open Parking & Camera Violations (nc67-uf89), per-plate aggregate, pulled October 22, 2026. [dataset]
16%
of fines owed actually paid by defaced / “no-hit” plates — versus 63% for valid plates.
Source: NYC Council Oversight & Investigations, “Plate and Switch,” Aug 2025. [report]
$108 million
in speed-camera revenue lost to ghost & defaced plates in 2023 alone — a conservative floor.
Source: NYC Comptroller, DOT Speed Camera Program audit, FN22-095A (Jan 22, 2024). [audit]
95,000+
city parking permits issued in 2022 (~40,000 to the NYPD); enforcement against misuse called “uneven and inadequate.”
Source: NYC Dept. of Investigation, Local Law 6 report (Apr 3, 2024). [report]
547
camera tickets ($36,650) on one NYPD officer’s personal truck since 2022. In June 2026 the NYPD barred him from department vehicles pending an Internal Affairs probe; he remains on the force.
Source: Streetsblog NYC, Apr 23, 2026 [story] · Jun 26, 2026 update [story]

Embeddable charts

Each chart has a live, responsive, chrome-less embed (source line baked in) plus downloadable SVG and PNG for print or CMS. Paste the snippet anywhere.

The Firehose — what NYC bills, live

A counter that accrues fines in real time from the moment the page loads — $36.49 every second.

↓ SVG ↓ PNG
<iframe src="https://www.carmula.com/nyc-car-tax/embed/firehose/" width="100%" height="360" style="border:0;max-width:680px" loading="lazy" title="The NYC Car Tax — live fines counter"></iframe>

The Gap — who actually pays

Share of fines paid by tier: enforced drivers vs. “no-hit” plates (16%, measured) vs. diplomats (immune).

↓ SVG ↓ PNG
<iframe src="https://www.carmula.com/nyc-car-tax/embed/gap/" width="100%" height="420" style="border:0;max-width:680px" loading="lazy" title="The Gap — share of NYC fines paid, by tier"></iframe>

The Leaderboard of Shame — diplomat impunity

Unpaid NYC parking violations per diplomat, by mission — the definitive academic ranking.

↓ SVG ↓ PNG
<iframe src="https://www.carmula.com/nyc-car-tax/embed/leaderboard/" width="100%" height="560" style="border:0;max-width:680px" loading="lazy" title="Unpaid NYC parking violations per diplomat, by country"></iframe>