It may come as a shock to California’s government, but funding billion-dollar investments in public transport requires billions of dollars, and that money comes from taxpayers. Upon realizing that the existing budget for transportation initiatives has been fully exhausted, legislators have decided to ask for not one, but two brand new tax increases on citizens.
Supporters of the initiative claim that the investment in public transportation is an investment in a sustainable future, but all signs suggest otherwise. Public transportation usage hasn’t increased anywhere in the US save Seattle—and San Diego, as reliant on automobile traffic as it is, is no Seattle.
The only way that public transportation improvements could possibly yield profitable fruit is by the government somehow making it illegal to drive. However, Democrats haven’t lost their minds enough to do that just yet. The bold steps it would take to increase the appeal of public transport include eliminating parking, more road tolls, and limiting suburban house construction, and those options don’t seem palatable in the slightest.
The Democratic legislators working on public transportation improvement in conjunction with SANDAG don’t care that there’s absolutely no reason the plan can succeed. They care that their own agendas are getting pushed, their pockets are getting lined, and that they can keep their cushy elected official desk jobs. Their concerns over what voters want only go as far as their private interests will allow them.
In short: yes, these proposed tax increases are throwing your money down the drain. But honestly, can we expect anything more from the likes of Democrats at this point?
Photo by Josh Esh
