On July 31st, Georgia
voters will decide on a 1% sales tax increase – whether to fund a list of
pre-approved transportation projects. This money will be in addition to the
over $1B annual G-DOT budget. The politicians and special interests who will
benefit from this new tax are using every means available – legal, ethical, or
constitutional – or not – to see that it is passed.
Here’s what is
occurring.
A NEW FORM OF REGIONALIZED GOVERNMENT
In 2010, the Georgia
legislature passed the Transportation Investment Act (TIA). TIA established 12
transportation districts throughout Georgia that follow state designated
Regional Commission (RC) boundaries. TIA established Regional Transportation
Roundtables (RTRs) consisting of elected officials from the counties and cities
within each region. For the 10-county Atlanta metro area, these elected
officials include the Chair/CEO of each county commission and 1 mayor of a city
from each county, selected by the other mayors.
Each RTR approved a
financially constrained so-called “Investment” List of transportation projects
for their district, selected from a list of example projects provided by the
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) Director of Planning. The
Unconstrained Example Investment List was developed with input from local
governments, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs), transit operators and
other transportation stakeholder agencies, following criteria established by
the Roundtable. The Final “Investment” List was approved by the full Roundtable
on October 15, 2011, based on initial recommendations made by the RTR Executive
Committee.
On July 31st voters in
each of the 12 regions across Georgia will have the opportunity to vote “yes”
or “no” on the additional 1% sales tax to fund transportation projects in their
REGION: the T-SPLOST (Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax).
No counties or
municipalities are permitted to be exempt from the tax, if approved by a
majority of voters across the entire REGION.
THE TRANSPORTATION BOONDOGGLE
Georgia voters are
being told by T-SPLOST supporters that this tax is absolutely necessary to fund
infrastructure projects to reduce traffic congestion and bring jobs. These
claims are unfounded.
Twenty-two of the 157
projects approved for the Atlanta region are for mass transit. These projects
will cost us taxpayers $3.16 billion. Of these, at least 11 projects are for
MARTA (metro Atlanta light rail). Less than 5% of metro commuters use MARTA.
Unlike nearly every driver who pays 100% of their transportation expense, MARTA
passengers in FY 2011 paid less than 1/3 (27%) of the line’s operating
expenses. Despite years of cost and service cutting and recent fare increases –
as well as numerically declining ridership – MARTA is expected to continue
losing over $500M every year as it has for the past few years. Unfunded
maintenance on MARTA is currently reported at $2.3B.
In Gwinnett County
(north metro), 22 projects are approved at a cost of $900M; 2 are for mass
transit. One is a $40M check to the county bus system. The other is $95M for a
study of rail along the I-85 corridor for which construction would not START
until AFTER 2040. Three I-85 overpass/interchanges would cost $92.5 million.
The remaining 75% of revenues are for road widening or bridge enhancements at a
few selected spots.
The tax would – in
addition to these projects – give 15% of all revenues collected across the
10-county metro Atlanta region to county and municipal governments for as yet
unidentified projects (“eligible transportation projects at their discretion”),
essentially amounting to a political slush fund worth well over $1B.
Obviously these
expenditures would do little for business development or job creation.
Supporters have failed to prove any real dollar benefit from commuter savings
or new jobs. On April 16, 2012 the Atlanta Journal Constitution released
Politifact’s Truth-O-Meter found Atlanta Regional Commission’s claim of
T-SPLOST creating or supporting an additional 200,000 jobs mostly false. Tax
and spend initiatives, also known as stimulus packages, have failed to deliver
promised results at the federal level – a fact that has apparently been lost at
the state and local levels in Georgia.
TAXES OR ELSE
Georgia voters are
being told that there will either be a tax or there will be NO traffic relief;
in effect, that there is no “Plan B”. In fact, legislators did not consider any
alternatives. A vote against the tax to fund these projects is a vote to do
nothing at all.
Many have proposed a
wide array of alternatives, including initiatives and projects that would
benefit the 95% of commuters who will NOT benefit from MARTA or any other
transit subsidies. These proposals were not and will not be considered.
A FEDERAL CASE
Funding for the
project list for the 10-county Atlanta metro area includes over $61.5M to be
supplied by our deficit-bound federal government. According to the Department
of Labor, this will incur Davis-Bacon provisions for labor wages and benefits
(http://www.dol.gov/whd/govcontracts/dbra.htm), helping to ensure the maximum
cost to taxpayers.
SELF-PROMOTION
The State and County
Chambers of Commerce are heavy supporters of the new tax. So are the Community
Improvement Districts (CIDs). Many within the leadership of these Chambers are
leaders in companies or organizations who will directly benefit from the new
tax. Chambers are actively lobbying their member companies to have employees
vote for this tax. Many Chambers, including the one in Gwinnett, are reported
to receive money from local hotel/motel taxes as well as the County Commission,
another taxpayer funded bureaucracy. Taxes are being used to promote the
imposition of more taxes.
Main stream media has
repeatedly expressed its support of this tax by its positive coverage of tax
supporters and propagation of their claims. The publisher of the Gwinnett Daily
Post (and recently also named the publisher of two other local papers by the
parent company of all) is Vice Chair for Media Relations of the Gwinnett
Chamber of Commerce. Just recently has the tax’s opponents been given some
coverage, often in the form of portraying only the existence of yet another
political argument or contest which stands to deadlock progress. As with most
recent political contests, people vote based on how other people say they’ll
vote, not on facts or issues. This fact is not lost on the media.
On the
“transformmetroatlanta” dot com website, the Metro Atlanta Voter Educaton
Network (MAVEN – pun intended) calls itself a broad coalition of civic groups
and citizens which has applied to become a non-profit for tax purposes.
Donations are accepted and volunteers are being sought. Although MAVEN purports
to be about educating voters, their website uses words such as “transportation
crisis” and “suffocating commuters” to make its case for approving the tax.
Their approved speakers bureau reads like a who’s-who list of Chamber, media,
commercial development, and urban redevelopment/mobility projects (Atlanta
Beltline) representatives – and clean air/sustainable development enthusiasts –
as well as selected realtors, consulting engineers and lawyers … and of course
people from MAVEN itself – all those who would be expected to benefit from tax
passage.
A SPECIAL ELECTION
By holding a vote in
the summer at the State primary elections (our presidential primary was March
6th), not in November at the general election, voter turnout can be expected to
be even lower than the usual 30-35 percent thereby increasing the impact of those
voters who stand to benefit financially and politically from the new tax – and
who absolutely will vote for it.
ONE PERCENT IS NOT A PENNY
This so-called “penny”
tax would apply a 1% tax to virtually everything purchased, including food and
prescription drugs, and in most counties would raise sales taxes from 6% to 7%,
a 17% increase – the largest in our history. Sales tax rates will then exceed
the 6% income tax people must pay to earn the money to pay the sales tax.
The Atlanta Regional
Roundtable decided to use the “base case” forecast for constraining the Final
“Investment” List. In “year of collection” (YOC) dollars (i.e., inflated as
necessary to reflect actual collections over the ten year time frame), that
forecast was $8,468,028,100. While this tax is being called a “cash infusion”
for “investment”, it will come out of people’s pockets. This tax is projected
to cost the average family of 4 about $8,000 over the first 10 years. As a
consumption tax, it will hit low and fixed income families hardest,
immeasurably increasing dependence on government subsidies such as food stamps
and other entitlements.
TEN YEARS IS ACTUALLY FOREVER
T-SPLOST supporters
claim that the tax will only be approved for ten years (2012-2022). That is
correct. In 2012. What they don’t mention is that many of the projects will
only be STARTED during this period. Completion of them will require additional
money, which would most likely have to come from future tax extensions. A few
projects will not even be completed until after 2040 – creating the need to
make this tax, like the gasoline road tax, PERMANENT.
POLITICAL FAVORS FOR FAVORS
Governor Deal won
election – in part – on a no-new-tax platform. He quickly points out that the
TIA was enacted before his election (and for which he is not responsible) and
because the voters will decide whether to approve the tax. In fact, he and his
Lieutenant Governor, actively support this new tax. Recently the pair spoke to
reporters in downtown Atlanta before attending a closed fund raiser for local
business heads who favor T-SPLOST. It has recently been made public that Deal
has committed to campaign for any elected official who publicly supports the
new tax.
By establishing a
regional government/taxing authority, and by passing the buck legislatively to
the voters, every politician can get the money without taking any
responsibility for having raised taxes.
ELECTIONEERING ON THE BALLOT ITSELF
The ballot on the
T-SPLOST has been shown to contain the following language:
“Provides for local transportation
projects to create jobs and reduce traffic congestion with citizen oversight.
Shall (your) county’s transportation system and the transportation network in
this region and the state be improved by providing for a 1 percent special
district transportation sales and use tax for the purpose of transportation
projects and programs for a period of ten years? Yes or No.”
A POLITICIAN’S DREAM = A TAXPAYER’S NIGHTMARE
Taxes are “cash
infusions”. Tax expenditures are “values” and “investments”. Pennies don’t
count. “Found money is free” . And stimulus money administered by centralized
planners to fulfill their agenda “always works”.
Bruce Duncil
Duluth, GA
brduncil@bellsouth.net
Source: TrafficTruth.net
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