Regional Sales Tax
The Mid-America Regional Council is looking at calling for a regional sales tax to fund transit across Missouri and Kansas, reports the Kansas City Business Journal:
The council will mull two options for modifying state laws. One would seek authority to collect sales taxes of as much as one-half cent regionally for transit. The other would seek authority for a full cent, which could be used for transit, public infrastructure, open space, cultural organizations and facilities, children's programs and "cooperative local government services."
Regional sales taxes are an excellent idea, and have been shown to work both in funding transit (see BART) and in funding cultural assets (see the Allegheny County Regional Asset District). They're especially useful for reliving tax-burden cities of the funding responsibility for an entire system that is equally used by non-city residents.
An innovative idea for relieving tax burden on cities and for funding needed services, especially in a time of fiscal crisis.
Post Author:
amg | 12:06 PM |
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If they've already done it, why is it innovative?
Do you ever have anything positive to say about anything?
It's innovative because most people don't do it, nor are they even willing to consider it, given that it pisses off the suburbs.
Well, I'm a cranky kinda guy.
One of the challenges MARC has with either tax proposal is that they're not the only horse at the trough. Kansas Citians just passed a fractional-cent sales tax to prop up the existing KC bus service and a renewal of the bi-state (i.e., regional) cultural tax is lurching to the ballot box sometime soon.
MARC will have to demonstrate how they can do more/better/different in order to succeed.
