Bus tax rejection
short-sighted
Blaine
County residents won’t be able to tax themselves to build a bus system—even
if they want to.
The House
Revenue and Taxation Committee made sure of that last week when members
voted 10-8 against a half-cent sales tax for resort counties.
Rejection
of a local-option sales tax for transportation was a mistake.
Burgeoning
traffic on Highway 75 is a huge problem with just two remedies: pave the
valley floor or fund a bus system.
Paving will
make the valley so ugly no one will want to visit. Businesses might as
well pack up and leave if the place loses its character just so every car
can have its own private parking space.
That leaves
mass transit as the single viable remedy.
The
committee failed to see this. A bus system will help the area’s economy,
save commuters money, free up parking for customers and businesses in
Ketchum, and reduce the money the state will have to spend on highway
expansion.
Rep. Lenore
Barrett, R-Challis, vociferously opposed the tax. She made it clear that
tourism should live or die on its own.
The Idaho
Statesman reported that Barrett said, "If tourism is such a hot
commodity, it should be allowed to flourish under the free enterprise
system."
Yet, her
district has been a large recipient of federal largesse. Timber, mining,
grazing—name the subsidy and her district has gotten the checks.
The score?
Three points for trees, rocks and cattle. Tourists, nothing.
The bill’s
sponsors, Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and Rep. Tim Ridinger, R-Shoshone,
shouldn’t give up just because the bill was defeated by the narrow
minded the first time around.
The valley
needs a stable source of funding for a bus system. A small sales tax
controlled by voters—and paid primarily by visitors—could be just the
ticket.