Light Rail and Dependable Funding Taxes

August 24, 2010

Part of this week's precinct focus includes the new Fridley passenger train station east side, a priority of our current representative Carolyn Laine. As we traveled the precinct we passed the train station parking lot several times during the business day when commuter expectations are used to support spending $350,000,000.00 for the route to Big Lake. I noticed few vehicles in the parking lot, and today there are about 25-30 vehicles in the lot. Granted, some travelers may walk from the adjacent neighborhood.

Whether you are a supporter or a dissenter of light rail, the fact is that a small but powerful group of government agencies are forcing an intricate web of 12 to 15 such rail systems from Minneapolis to outstate Minnesota and beyond, spending billions of our grandchildren's income. No public transportation system is self-sustaining, but is instead subsidized by the general public. In fact, much of the public transportation mandates and funding flow from the federal government. Today anyone with an IQ of a
tomato knows that federal revenue is not sustainable and too soon lost, leaving state and local units of government with three choices for funding public transportation.  These are: stopping service, raising  general taxes to compensate for the federal revenue losses or raising commuter fees 300% or more.

The Minnesota Constitution Article 14, Sections 12 and 13 provides the only legal authorization for state funding of public light rail or other non-road transportation systems in Minnesota. Yet our legislature and governors have passed numerous taxes specific to supporting non-constitutional transportation methods.

One example is that a person's electric utility bill has a 25% Transit Improvement Tax, specifically for public transportation.  While $0.15 in a month may seem trivial to argue over, every tax in Minnesota started out trivial with unrealistic promises. In addition under our Rule of Law, in "the Minnesota Constitution," Minnesotans have problems when taxes for public transportation outside the law are enforced upon the population. There is no end to government confiscation of "We the People's" wealth, as long as we retain leadership with agendas in violation of our law, "The Constitution."

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