Tuesday, December 4, 2007

Drink Tax Judgement Day

Tonight will be the vote that decides whether the county will create a Drink Tax and a Rental Car tax to allow for matching funds for the Port Authority. The Auditor General thought it was a great time to mention that the Port Authority really should look at its budget. Thanks Mr. Obvious.

I don't believe that Allegheny County needs new taxes, and I think it puts Allegheny County and the Port Authority in a less competitive position with surrounding counties
The county? Maybe. But the Port Authority itself? Yeah, real competitive when 25% of service is cut.

And call the feds: the Trib has an article in support of it. A good article. Wow. Joseph Sabino Mistick lays it out:

Pick one. The pour tax or the poor tax. The tax on every alcoholic drink that is poured in local taverns and restaurants or an increase in the real estate tax that folks on a fixed income believe will eventually put them in the poorhouse.

P-G's editorial support here. This is the crappy cards we've been dealt. The state says do these taxes or raise property taxes. And Pittsburghers would rather do anything short of wearing a Browns jersey to avoid property tax increases. Stay tuned for updates.

So drink up. At least you'll have a ride home. And don't like the $2 rental car tax? A quarter more (60 cents in January) gets you a ride on the 28X.

UPDATES: I'll compile all the stories related to the new taxes from today into this one post.

-Watch the Council meeting live here on Allegheny County's website. The agenda is quite long, this one may last into the night.
- Buskarma has some thoughts, including Wagner's interesting timing to state what everyone already knew. Note that he may be running against Onorato for Governor when Rendell is done.
-And why hasn't Save Our Transit been updated since March? I've heard their opinions on the radio so they are still a force.
- The tax has passed. See my story above.

2 comments:

  1. The problem with all the debate around the transit cuts is that it's been so short-sighted. It's hard for the public to rally in support of the Port Authority because all they're getting, and all they are hearing about getting, is at best the same mediocre service. What Port Authority needs to do is lay out where they are headed long term. I'd love to see the T expanded city-wide, including a line out to the airport and connecting lines that go as far as Kennywood. Let's lay out a vision for where transit it headed, and use that to rally the public.

    That will switch the mindset from "Let's support PAT to keep our crummy service" to "Let's support PAT so it can become a world-class system down the line." I'd much rather support the latter.

    The Blurgh

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  2. I agree. I hope the "Connect '09" initiative has some real teeth behind it, and not just another "corridor study" that means nothing. The endless downward spiral will continue otherwise: bad funding means bad service which means bad ridership which means bad funding...

    Thanks for your comments.

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