The disconnect is that you keep switching to the word poor. Working class people in and around NYC aren't poor. There's a 15 dollar minimum wage and under the table work usually pays more per hour than that. If you are driving to get to work in NYC, you are not poor. If you were poor, you would take transit because it's much cheaper.

You think day laborers are poor? They can pull in up to 80k a year and pay no taxes. Now if you work retail for $15 an hour and can only get 20 hours a week, you may be poor, but you also aren't driving to McD's to work that job.