Your tax dollars will not save local transit
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Transit expert Marc Joffe unpacks all the over-the-top doom-mongering being peddled by SPUR, SF Chronicle, and Transit Industrial Complex. His conclusion: their alarmism regarding RTM doesn't withstand serious examination.
With so much money lying around in reserves, why do bureaucrats want to frighten voters into approving a sales tax hike that will squeeze the Bay Area’s poorest? Marc Joffe explains:
We already have a transit tax
The proposed tax—dubbed the Regional Transit Measure or Measure RTM —comes on top of already-existing transit sales taxes. And it falls most heavily on those least able to afford it: seniors and working families trying to make ends meet in America’s most expensive region
Bullet train money--not more taxes--could be the silver bullet for local transit
The simplest fix would be to temporarily divert money now earmarked for California’s woebegone high-speed rail project to Bay Area transit operations. The $1 billion of “cap and invest” money the state spends annually on the bullet train exceeds the $980 million expected from the first year of the transit tax.
It is absolutely possible to flex money, rather than tax the poor
Other excessively costly transit construction projects around the Bay Area should be paused, truncated or cancelled. Top among these is the $8.25 billion, 1.3-mile Caltrain extension to Salesforce Transit Center. This project makes even less sense now that there is no prospect for high-speed rail service running up Caltrain tracks.
Another costly, unnecessary project is the $2.05 billion Valley Link, a rail connection between Mountain House, Livermore and the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station. Express buses could easily serve this route more cost-effectively.
The state Legislature working with MTC could redirect state grant funds and toll revenues from these projects to fill transit budget gaps.
Instead, we’re racing toward what looks like a VAT for the VTA – 11.25% is an almost European style sales taxes now choking the Bay Area.
There’s so much room for savings
The agencies themselves should reduce excessive non-operational costs such as high executive compensation and retiree health care. Longer term, they should be planning to introduce autonomous vehicles to increase service frequency while reducing labor costs.--Marc Joffe, California Policy Center and Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association
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