|
Back to ~ Transit Taxes in Southeast Michigan The SMART Property Tax |
|
A vote of NO next August 2018 caps this tax at 1 mil, which exclusively replaces State CTF money. This means NO loss of service or funding or SMART bus driver or mechanic jobs no matter how you vote. In 2006, suburban taxpayers lost $2.5 Million per year in CTF funds because the registered voters were not educated to understand that local funds can replace state funds. The City of Detroit gets $70 Million per year in state funds, but if transit tax increase advocates succeed, this money could disappear without written accords. Only YOUR support for these WebPages will bring back SMART with the only plan that actually came off the shelf and filled up buses which is Option One. The concurrence of this plan with SMART officials protects CTF money by removing 40,000 cars per day from the Multi-Billion dollar I-94 and I-75 NEW Freeway Expansions without additional local taxes and protects the city of Detroit from further state cuts. The State of Michigan used to pay for the transportation of the handicapped and the elderly from the Comprehensive Transportation Fund (CTF). Today, the City Councils of Detroit and Livonia and the Transportation Riders United (TRU) financially support the urban planning disasters of the Freeway Expansions with this same money with strong support for new tax mechanisms and increases. Gasoline Tax + Diesel Fuel Tax + Vehicle Registration Fees + Secondary Fees + Earned Interest Make up the Michigan Transportation Fund of which Ten percent (after administration deduction and deductions for Rail Grade Crossings, Critical Bridge Debt Service, 3% Gas Tax, State Trunkline Bridges and State Trunkline Fund Debt Reduction), plus a percentage of auto-related sales tax revenue make up the Comprehensive Transportation Fund (CTF) -- $238,816,800 in FY 2001-2002-- source Michigan House Fiscal Agency. From this funding the following was paid to support SMART and DDOT, based on statistics from the House Fiscal Agency
FY 1995-1996- $ 70,803,699 This was the money that used to pay for SMART public bus service in Livonia before Novemver 2006. Today, all community transit for the handicapped, the elderly and the poor are paid entirely with property taxes in Livonia with very little left for those in the County Transit Authority. See SMART 2014 budget PDF file at the bottom of this page. Could the city of Detroit be the next Livonia to lose all of this same money for this same service? If so, it will cost Wayne county taxpayers over $70 Million per year or more in additional NEW tax increases without expanding service. If Everyone knows about this Website Then all transportation taxes will be capped as essential to publicly tell the voters the truth about the Freeway Expansions, then they can be stopped or changed to include mass transit before they cause more damage. The newspaper stories of SMART shutting down without your YES vote are just simply not true. It is outright illegal, against the law and immoral to cut any funding from SMART for any reason. Everyone knows that heavy vehicles impose substantially larger costs for building and maintaining roads, yet studies consistently show that these vehicles are undercharged in relation to these costs. A well-organized trucking lobby has been successful in persuading state and federal legislators to shift costs to lighter vehicles and general taxpayers. In effect, trucking operations are subsidized. The consequences include accelerated wear and tear on the roadways, diversion of freight traffic from rail, and increased roadway congestion. All of these consequences raise the cost of transportation and reduce the efficiency of the road system It's most unfortunate prominent transit tax increase advocates including the TRU are in league with the road lobbyists for the Freeway Expansions directly causing the destruction of our environment and more callous bus service reductions. The Michigan state fuel tax, known as Act 51 used to pay for matching grants for buses and operating expenses can be protected as a requirement in writing at the voting booth. Without YOUR support for these WebPages, transit tax advocates will again win without the restoration of federal or state fuel tax money or industry contributions. Public Transit is a Human Right. These WebPages propose the taxpayers openly protest the elitist and communist mass transit leadership which has prevailed in Greater Detroit since 1995 when the first SMART property tax passed using the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other acts. The loss of public bus service last November 2006 in the City of Livonia alone is proof and solid physical evidence that the voters have no choice to ever get good quality affordable public bus service in southeast Michigan, unless YOU support these WebPages today!!!
|
|
BACK TO ~ Transit Taxes in Southeast Michigan | Top of Page |