An article in this morning�s paper tells of a 10-year plan to fund metro area transportation
See: Officials call for gas tax to improve metro transit http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/3444167.html I�ll be among the first to agree that it is way past time to increase the state�s gasoline tax and certainly part of that money should be used to fund transit. It is not surprising that one of the group�s unresolved issues was how funds would be divided between roads and transit. What concerns me is the proposed metro wide sales tax. I have a problem with dedicated taxes, why do some public functions get guaranteed support from their dedicated tax while other equally important functions need to fight for their funding. I also fail to understand why this particular piece of the transportation function should be paid for only by its local area. Should then only those who live or shop there pay for roads in Roseau, Crow Wing or Goodhue counties? Transportation, like education, has traditionally had statewide support. Presumably it is not just the people that live in a particular area who benefit from transportation access or even the ability to just pass through on the way to somewhere else. Shifting transportation funding to the local area is a plan that needs careful consideration before it is embraced and adopted. Terrell Brown Minneapolis terrell at terrellbrown dot org __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - Let the expert host your site http://webhosting.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Metropolitan Issues Forum http://www.e-democracy.org/tcmetro Rules: Sign posts with real name. You may not post more than twice a day.
