A Brooklyn city councilmember on Tuesday praised Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to delay congestion pricing in Manhattan, advocating for its complete elimination.

Kalman Yeger, a Democrat who represents parts of Midwood, Borough Park and Gravesend, has been a vocal critic of congestion pricing for years, and while he acknowledged that the MTA is in need of funding, he called the plan to toll drivers to enter Manhattan south of 60th Street nothing more than “a tax to fill the hole in the MTA’s budget.”

"The fact that the MTA needs help is true, but the starting point of that has to be the MTA needs to be trusted, and people don't trust the MTA and they don't trust the MTA for good reason," Yeger said. "The MTA is bloated, it’s over budget, they can't do anything on time."

He criticized the efficiency of the MTA to use funding appropriately and noted that the agency could come down harder on fare evasion to boost funding.

“Fare evasion represents, right now, more than three-quarters of the anticipated revenue of congestion pricing,” he said.

Reflecting on the origins of congestion pricing, Yeger also insisted that it was never about alleviating congestion but rather about generating revenue.

“And if it was ever about congestion, then they wouldn't be charging it at two in the morning when nobody's on the road," he said. "This is not about congestion. This was a tax."

MTA officials have said the congestion pricing plan was a way to lessen traffic, improve air quality and fund transportation improvements.

He also criticized the multiple taxes already in place to fund the MTA, arguing against the need to toll drivers, too.

"But the question of this congestion pricing … it's simply a tax that ought to be killed and the governor's on the right thing on it right now, and there has to be a system created where the MTA is able to get a dedicated funding stream, but at the same time, address its own bloat,” Yeger said.