Comments for Citizens for Better Transit

Comment on 24th State: Dooley and Friends, “Built Metro TO LOSE MONEY.” by Brett

Brett — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 11:59:52 +0000

“Aside from eliminating all fuel taxes, and assessing tolls on state and federal highways that precisely reflected the cost of each particular vehicle’s usage.”
So why don’t we do that? There are several states that do that already with fast-pass type systems. You get assessed a toll based on your vehicle and usage every time you drive on the state highways.
And you are also ignoring that gas taxes, unlike transit tolls and sales taxes, are paid by businesses too who use fuel for non-automotive reasons (like train transport). That means pass through to everyone who never drives on a highway or interstate nor even receives products transported on highways or interstates.
But i like the idea of assessing tolls on a usage basis. That would save me quite a bit and transfer that cost to everyone who commutes into the city daily from st charles and farther.

Comment on You paid for it! by Ed Golterman

Ed Golterman — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:32:30 +0000

METRO has neither helped St. Louis recover as a city, nor in any way helped slow our continued downslide. METRO is a most failed system and has no business seeking more of the public’s money.

Comment on A sickening avalanche of money by Patrick Richmond

Patrick Richmond — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:08:40 +0000

Some of those are HUGE corporations. I hope your psychic network does get poorer!!! Psychics are nothing but trash!!! They lie!!!! I work at one of those places. If prop A fails, I have no way to work!!! I will NEVER join Citizens for Better Transit!!! I rather have my air be nice and clean. If Prop A fails, highways will become clogged! And the air qualitiy will become DANGEROUSLY polluted!

Comment on 24thstate.com: The Metro Tax Lie by Patrick Richmond

Patrick Richmond — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:56:47 +0000

Well, it looks like I am going to have to demolish your fantasyland. Miss Cleo is a dirtbag. Psychics lie. I don’t believe in psychics. They are just a bunch of liars! Let me know where your crystal ball is so I can break it! I want my air to be nice and clean!

Comment on A sickening avalanche of money by yeolecontractor

yeolecontractor — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 23:50:08 +0000

How is the public being abused by those powerful companies if Proposition A passes? I keep hearing such sound bites and keep the same wonderment. Are you trying to say we have no need for the transit system or that you do not care if there is one or not? Many of us depend on Metro Bus and rail to get around the metro area and often feel as if we are being pointed at by some like you. I have heard weak and selfish arguments about make the riders pay for the system. In retort I say make the fans who attend the games pay for the stadium and other such accessories to sports.

Out of one side of many mouths I hear such whining about government spending but out of the other side comes desires for everyone to help pay for such things as baseball and football stadiums. I see it as a selfish uncaring thought process. At some point, hopefully, that selfishness will disapate and consider mass transit as essential to the region’s growth and future deposits in the bank of what all commuities of any size needs.

Speaking for myself, I support a great transit system for the densely developed core of the region. And I strongly oppose any transit at all for the sparse suburbs. In contrast, Metro’s plan is to extend service into the most high cost, low ridership areas, while the transit oriented part of the region continues to receive the same poor service as always.

Few who live in St. Louis are aware that you can actually use technology to make buses great. You can put a GPS transponder in the bus, and put electronic signs at bus stops to announce REAL arrival times. You can put the GPS data on the internet, so you can know exactly when to leave your house so that you’ll arrive at the stop right when the bus does. You can put controls in traffic lights so that buses never have to wait for a light, making the bus significantly faster. They actually do that stuff in other cities. But the only technology we have here is those annoying devices which repeat the bus stop over and over and over … That’s why people in St. Louis think buses are for poor people.

And if it make you feel any better, I’m against giving public money for stadiums and shopping centers too. I agree completely, let the fans pay for it.

Nick Kasoff

Comment on The ridership fib by Tweets that mention Citizens for Better Transit » Blog Archive » The ridership fib -- Topsy.com

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:11:12 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by BetterTransit. BetterTransit said: Blog Post:: The ridership fib http://www.stoptheprop.com/wordpress/2010/04/the-ridership-fib/ [...]

Comment on Vote NO on Prop A, April 6th, 2010! by Brett

Brett — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:33:55 +0000

Incidentally, if you look at median numbers, the Transit Alliance numbers are way off. Median household income after tax in St Louis County is right around $31k (not taking into account property tax or retirement savings). That means $155 (if every cent is spent on taxable sales in St Louis County), not $50 but not $320 either.

Comment on Vote NO on Prop A, April 6th, 2010! by Brett

Brett — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:20:00 +0000

You are using the mean household income to figure the “average” tax hike on a family of four instead of using the median household income to figure the tax hike on an “average” family of four.

Why are you using mean income instead of median income if you want the numbers to represent the experience for an average st louis county household? Or what are you trying to represent if you are not trying to represent the experience of the average household?

When we have households that earn 8 and even 9 figure incomes (a single $17 million after tax household income accounts for all the sales tax for 1,063.5 households earning $0 per year), mean and median incomes have very different meanings.

Comment on Vote NO on Prop A, April 6th, 2010! by Brett

Brett — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:58:23 +0000

Looking at the median income for st louis county households and the income tax rates and property tax rates applicable…
there doesn’t seem to be enough income to go around for a family of 4 to get to $320/year. That’s over $64,000 -after all taxes-. That’s a more like Ladue median income (actually more than that even) than St Louis County median income.

I would bet that a great deal of that money is paid by businesses. If you’ve taken a few economics classes, you know that businesses don’t “pay” anything, they just reduce their compensation of workers and shareholders when they incur costs. Ultimately, it is the residents of this county who will pay this tax.

This gets back to a discussion I’ve had many times: The tax is supposed to bring in $80 million a year, and St. Louis county has less than a million residents. Either you believe as I do, that “we pay the taxes” or, essentially, that most tax revenue drops out of the sky. The Transit Alliance, by asserting that this tax will cost the average family $50 a year, subscribes heavily to the “drops out of the sky” theory. My response is, if that is true then we should eliminate real estate taxes in St. Louis county, jack the sales tax way up, and let all those invisible taxpayers fund our county services. If it isn’t true, then this represents a $320 a year tax hike on a family of four.

Comment on 24th State: Dooley and Friends, “Built Metro TO LOSE MONEY.” by Brett

Brett — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:50:54 +0000

The gas tax would be fair if highway drivers were the only users of gasoline. I don’t drive a single stretch of interstate or state highway throughout my entire daily commute. Yet I continue to pay the gas tax on every gallon I purchase for my vehicle, lawn mower, generator, etc.
Where’s my gas tax refund for driving local roads that come out of my sales and property tax?

You’re picking nits, Brett. Aside from eliminating all fuel taxes, and assessing tolls on state and federal highways that precisely reflected the cost of each particular vehicle’s usage, there is no perfect system. My only point it, automobile drivers actually pay much closer to the full cost of roads than transit users do to the full cost of transit.