May I humbly suggest that you don't want to go there since the MTA isn't the only thing Downstate sucking up Upstate's tax money.
I don't want to get into an Upstate/Downstate argument with you, since it would be counter-productive and you'd only be embarrassed (just kidding).
However, having lived upstate (Rochester and Utica), I can certainly understand your plight. Yes, the nine million or so denizens of New York City certainly do exact a toll on the people Upstate, but just think of where you'd be if it were not for Wall Street --- you'd be Vermont, only straight.
PS, while I'm at it, Staten Island attempted to seceede from New York city in the 1980's and early 90's, only to be slapped down by the evil cabal of Cuomo, Clinton and Dinkins.
They made the the argument that the city could not exist without the tax base of a half-million Staten Islanders. And they were right. Staten Island alone accounts for almost 20% of all city income tax revenues.
In the meantime, $300 million was spent to build a new naval base on the island that has gone unused, and which the city hasn't found a decent use for. Billions were spent on housing for all the expected sailors and their families, which necessarily went to "low-income families" (i.e. useless mouths) since it would not be going to productive individuals (sailors and marines), and we now live on a crowded 12 mile by 7 mile island, with no mass transit, an $8 one-way toll (thank you Mario Cuomo), with 600,000 people (and climbing) on it.
Had the folks in the State Assembly (all those Upstate Republicans)taken a stand for freedom, and allowed Staten Island to become an independant city, perhaps Staten Islanders would not have to be smeared with the same brush as the Manhattanites.