Thursday, May 24, 2018

Six Reasons to Vote Against Bridge Toll Hike


Marin IJ Readers’ Forum for May 23, 2018

Six Reasons to Vote Against Bridge Toll Hike
Vote no on Regional Measure 3, the plan to add $1 per year increase in bridge tolls. Over six years, the tax won’t total more than $3, which may seem inconsequential. But it’s significant, like the alcoholic taking a little drink and sliding into addiction. Here are six reasons to vote no.
Big businesses in Silicon Valley, the ones pushing the measure, are building excessive office space which adds to congestion, without taking responsibility for making conditions worse.
Revenue from previous tax increases is rarely accounted for. A statewide 12-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase is generating billions of dollars, and the tax will increase by another 5.6 cents next year.
Bridge tolls and gas taxes place an unfair burden on people least able to afford them — gardeners, nannies and health care workers who commute across the bridges for low wages.
A regional tax undermines local jurisdictional authority and puts money and power into the hands of regional officials who are not directly elected, and therefore not accountable.
If Marin voted unanimously against the measure but voters in the South Bay voted for it, Marin residents would be saddled with the tax and the imposition of voters in the South Bay.
How is it fair for the Marin County Elections Office to include 22 pages in support for the measure, written by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission? Why not an equal number of pages in opposition? Who paid for propaganda printing and postage?
The measure doesn’t provide solutions but creates problems.
— Susan Kirsch, Mill Valley

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