I-745: Anti-democratic, or a tax increaser

greenspun.com : LUSENET : I-695 Thirty Dollar License Tab Initiative : One Thread

From the 10/16 News Tribune

"How the money is spent

To figure out the potential impact of I-745, budget analysts for the governor, the House and Senate transportation committees and the state Department of Transportation looked at how transportation funds are being spent today.

They concluded that the total amount of money from all sources affected by I-745 - the state, counties, cities and transit districts - is about $3.5 billion a year. About 80 percent of that combined total goes toward highways; the balance goes for buses, passenger train service and other non-highway projects.

That scenario assumes money spent on ferry service and construction is "highway" money, an assumption that stems from court rulings that say ferry routes are an extension of the state highway system.

The DOT already spends at least 93 percent of its transportation funds on highway-related projects. About 7 percent of DOT's budget goes to operation and track improvements for state-subsidized Amtrak passenger trains, transit service or other non-highway projects.

Cities and counties spend virtually 100 percent of their transportation funds on streets or roads.

But the state's 25 transit districts, most notably Sound Transit, together spend almost $600 million a year on bus service. And when that money enters the equation, overall spending is about 80 percent for highways and 20 percent for alternative modes of transportation."

What the article doesn't explicitly state is that almost the ENTIRE $600 million spent by the transit districts comes from taxes that voter approved unquestionably for transit related funding.

The article assumes one of two things would happen if I-745 passes. The first is that transit funding would be diverted to road construction, thus overriding about 2 dozen local elections. The second is that instead of reducing transit funding, the legislature might just raise taxes to increase road spending.

Of course if the Supreme Court were to decide that I-745 works on an agency by agency basis, in theory, the DOT could REDUCE road spending by 3 percent and local governments could reduce their spending by about 10 percent.

-- Informed Citizen (IC@IC.com), October 16, 2000

Answers

to Informed Citizen: I've read the text of I-745, and it seems to be going after the money for light rail, which you've seemed to have left out of your equations. If the money for light rail were used to help build a new bridge across Lake Washington (as gubernatorial candidate John Carlson suggests), then we could be providing real relief to the citizens of Seattle (not that this does me any good).

Furthermore, a new bridge across Lake Washington would aid hi-tech workers and companies, thuse enhancing governmental surpluses.

The issue is one of cost-benefit. For every dollar invested in new road capacity how much does society get back in terms of improved economic performance? Compare that to rail.

Finally, if we charge people money to use the HOV lanes, then we can expand road capacity WITHOUT RAISING TAXES OR COERCIVE FEES!!! Can you do that with rail?! Can rail support itself? The HOV system could support itself.

-- Matthew M. Warren (mattinsky@msn.com), October 17, 2000.


"An Elway Poll last month showed I-745 was supported by 70 percent of those surveyed in Eastern Washington, 59 percent in Western Washington and 51 percent in Snohomish, Pierce and Kitsap counties. In King County, the initiative was supported by 37 percent of voters. Statewide, it was 52 percent. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. "



-- (mark842@hotmail.com), October 23, 2000.

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