New Yorkers know a fare hike when they see one

“Fare adjustment”: That’s what MTA boss Janno Lieber laughably calls the next subway-fare hike.

Give us a break: A hike is a hike. And every New Yorker knows it.

Lieber is resorting to Team Hochul’s Orwellian-naming schtick for papering over bad news and rotten policy.

As in the faux-wonk term “congestion pricing” for a $9-per-trip tax that’s still headed back to the originally-planned $15 — which will doubtless rise on in what Lieber can call “a congestion pricing adjustment.”

More mush: Don’t forget that Gov. Kathy Hochul bragged about “saving” New Yorkers money by starting with only $9 when she socked them with that tax, not the full $15?)

OK: The subway hike is just a dime, to $3 (for now).

But it comes atop countless other taxes that hit New York residents with the nation’s heaviest state- and local-tax burden.

“While a small increase may seem like nothing to you at all, it makes a big difference,” one resident, Hannah Reed, told MTA board members.

Yet the brass won’t admit the truth: “I would not call this a hike,” board member Neal Zuckerman huffed. It’s “a very gradual raise, and I think very respectful of the inflation and affordability issues.”

What arrogance. As one straphanger, Emmanuel Vasquez, fumed, “There’s always flooding, there’s always a brake emergency, there’s always a power outage” on the subway, but officials never stop zapping riders with hikes.

And that’s despite the billions the agency collects not just from fares but city, state and federal tax revenue, corporations, individual taxes and, yes, “congestion pricing.”

And while it diverts money to politically-driven projects like Second Avenue Subway expansion: On Monday, the board OK’d a $1.9 billion contract for just a part of project; the final tab will run at least $7 billion for just three new stations.

Lieber & Co. know darn well their repeated dips into New Yorkers’ pockets sting; they just don’t care to admit it.

Why else hide behind weasel words?