$42 Billion Transit Proposal Moves in Wrong Direction

The Goldwater Institute ^ | April 30, 2008 | Byron Schlomach

[GoldwaterInstitute]

$42 Billion Transit Proposal Moves in Wrong Direction

Byron Schlomach, Goldwater Institute Daily Email, April 30, 2008

After months of rumblings around the state capitol, a private coalition called TIME – Transportation and Infrastructure Moving AZ’s Economy – has unveiled a $42 billion solution for Arizona’s transportation problems. It can be summed up as “tax and spend.”

Under the proposal, the state’s sales tax would increase by one cent. By itself, a cent seems small, but this would make Arizona’s state sales tax rate the fifth highest in the nation according to the Tax Foundation. Arizona already has the nation’s twelfth highest weighted sales tax rate--the state’s sales tax rate combined with the average city and county tax rates. The proposed change would move us to fifth highest, almost on a par with New York.

If high taxes are the first problem, spending is a strong second. Along with some good ideas, like spending on expansions of existing interstates, the proposal calls for more spending on mass transit. Unfortunately, transit has proven itself an efficient consumer of tax money and not much else. On average, fares cover only 40 percent of operating costs and none of the initial investment.

Arizona needs more roads, but the last thing our economy needs is more taxes. Current transportation plans need to be scrubbed of inefficient projects and greater emphasis needs to be placed on private sources of transportation funds.

Today the Goldwater Institute will release a policy report that examines Arizona’s transportation challenges and suggests how to meet them without raising taxes. The bottom line is that with a little creativity and innovation, we can fund our transportation needs without raising taxes.

Dr. Byron Schlomach is the director of the Center for Economic Prosperity at the Goldwater Institute.

[ElectricStrawberry]

......wow.....now the Big Dig doesn’t seem so bad.....only $14.7 billion and counting.

[DuncanWaring]

That’s roughly $6,600 for every man, woman and child in the entire state.

$26,000 for a “family of four”.

[Milan Z]

You’re saying that we should give up to third party tax collectors? Letting private companies build toll roads is better than assuring that each vehicle on the road is there legally? Come on Byron. Almost a third of the cars on the road are either operating with expired registration, no insurance or are stolen. It is way more beneficial to the LAW ABIDING CITIZENS to enforce the laws pertaining to lawful motor vehicle operation on public roadways. Plus, there is NO WAY that you can say that more people would use toll ways than there are illegal motor vehicles on the road.

Getting the scofflaw motorists off the roads and onto the already subsidized public transit systems will have exponential, positive affects of individual prosperity. Whose side are you on?