Written by Nathaniel Mannor
If you thought that a four-cent per mile driving tax was absurd, wait for the latest tax hike on Californians. A cohort of environmental hippies came together to propose a half-cent tax increase to fund various transportation projects. No one knows for sure what specific areas our tax dollars will go towards, and it’s scary that we don’t know where our money’s going. But there are a few hinted paths our tax dollars could go down.
One proposal is relocating the coastal rail corridor away from Del Mar Bluffs and combining it with the airport while simultaneously funding the Purple Line (a rail line from South Bay to Kearny Mesa).
But one thing you won’t see is freeway spending, or reducing congestion. One of the hippies leading this move, Gretchen Newsom, said that “We’re not focused on that kind of breakdown and animosity of previous years, pitting transit versus highways. Everything is different nowadays than it was in 2016. We have a real plan to expand transit and to make better use of our highway system and to meet our climate goals. That’s why you see a big, diverse coalition coming together.”
Speaking of which, let’s expand upon this “diverse coalition” for a bit. In 2016 this group fought to add a tax measure to help with transportation projects to the ballot. Now, that same fragile coalition has reunited for a signature campaign to put that same sales tax increase on the 2022 ballot for transportation. They don’t realize that repeating the same process over and over again while expecting a different result makes them insane, but it’s more fun to watch them spiral out of control when this measure fails yet again. Along with SANDAG’s plan, San Diego could become one of the most taxed places in California.
After all, no one wants to spend their own money for the common good (but they’ll willingly spend everyone else’s hard-earned income for their ends).
