Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Shocker: Tully Writes A Critical Column On Mass Transit

Finally, someone at the Indianapolis Star does some critical thinking about the proposed metropolitan mass transit plan financed by a local income tax increase and that someone is a bit of a surprise. Previously, political columnist Matt Tully uncritically praised the mass transit plan as a no-brainer. A light bulb went off, finally, and Tully now admits the legislature did the right thing in devoting more time to studying the issue and offers some cogent analysis free from the usual talking points.
. . . The legislature was right. It was right to be cautious. It was right to push this debate back a year. And it was right to hold off on the authorization of referendums to raise Marion and Hamilton county income taxes for transit . . .
[W]e need better transit and we need to accept that we have to pay for it, just as we pay for roads, bridges and other parts of the local transportation complex.
But the Central Indiana transit expansion plan is not perfect. There are serious issues that must be better addressed to sell more people on it, and they explain both why the legislature was right to be cautious this year and why even a transit advocate like me has lingering doubts about the expansion plan . . .
First up is the financing plan, which centers on raising the local income tax by three-tenths of a percent. That would push Indy’s income tax rate to nearly 2 percent. Because most of the surrounding counties would not initially or perhaps ever follow suit, this would worsen an already troubling gap in the tax rate between the city and most of its suburbs, giving people one more reason to leave Marion County or not settle here in the first place. Additionally, the income tax would be paid solely by people who live in the county.
But what if the plan were funded by a sales tax? . . .
My second concern is based on a broad question: Is a transit upgrade the most pressing issue in the city . . .
And, third, there is the question of whether a regional transit system is best for Indianapolis. As Sen. Patricia Miller of Indianapolis asked at a legislative hearing this week, will a regional system simply “make it easier for people to flee Marion County?” . . .

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

An important thought: The Detroit suburbs are safe, beautiful, and have the wealthiest people in Michigan. They have a solid tax base...and maybe it is because there is no tax and spend mass transit rail system to EXPORT the Detroit crime!!!

It appears that gang members, thugs, and criminals don't want to put out the effort to go outside of the danger zone to commit crimes. It's a lot easier to duck into a train station than it is to go to a bus stop and stand there visible to everyone to wait the get-away ride!

-Just wondering if the mass transit tax and spend rail proposal passed here, if places like Carmel and Noblesville would see crime the likes of The Meadows, Brightwood, Haughville, or West Side???

CircleCityScribe said...

Well I bet Erika isn't speaking to Tully anymore!

Anonymous said...

How about we make the billionaire team owners pay the bill for the buildings in which they pay. That would free up the 2% sales tax on food for mass transit and end corporate welfare.

Anonymous said...

Please! A thief from downtown Indy isn't going to hop on mass transit to travel up to Carmel to steal your precious flatscreen TV. Debate the costs of mass transit - fine. But, don't try to scare people into thinking mass transit will help spread crime. It doesn't happen.

And by the way - even a bankrupt Detroit sees the benefits of investing in mass transit. http://www.forbes.com/sites/toyota/2013/07/23/hope-for-detroit-rail-transit-on-the-way/