| Voters
Will be Stuck in Traffic |
| Anti-sales tax increase proponents, with the rallying cry,
"I'd rather have gridlock than more taxes," have made it difficult
for all Northern Virginians to see any glimmer of hope in
relief from traffic congestion. |
| But the anti-taxers spoke loudly, louder and in unison.
Their campaign was effective, albeit confusing and misleading. |
| And speaking louder than most were the voters in Loudoun
County, which voted down the referendum 63.7 percent to 36.3
percent. Every precinct in the county, except for the Oak
Grove precinct on the Loudoun-Fairfax county border off Route
606, voted "no" to the tax increase. |
| Compare the Loudoun County figures to the following: |
| In the region which would have benefitted from the extra
funds, voters defeated the issue by a 55 percent to 45 percent
margin. |
| Herndon voters reflected those numbers, defeating the tax
increase 55.75 percent to 44.25 percent. |
| In Reston, one of the few areas where the measure was approved,
voters passed the referendum by a margin of 51.8 percent to
48.2 percent. |
| The farther west you went, the greater the margin by which
the sales tax increase was defeated. That fits into my vision
of the political structure of this area. |
| Reston, the more liberal of the three areas, approved the
referendum, even though by a small margin. Herndon, more middle-of-road
than Reston or Loudoun County, defeated the increase tax by
about the same margin as the entire area. |
| But Loudoun County, known for its conservative politics,
its anti-growth, anti-tax, anti-government contingency, defeated
the issue by the largest margin of all. |
| It proves the point that the sales tax increase proposal
was political and partisan, even though many people and organizations
said it wasn'tĪlike the "non-partisan" Herndon Town Council,
which endorsed the increase. |
| The problem is, our transportation problems are not partisan:
They affect liberals, conservatives, middle-of-the-roaders
and independents the same. We all get stuck on the same highways. |
| The political nature of taxes, and the mistrust this area
has for its politicians, developers and mass transit proponents,
will make fixing traffic problems in Northern Virginia a challenge,
if not an impossibility. |
| The mistrust of politicians and developers and the misinformation
that poured fourth from the anti-tax voters made for a confusing
and sometimes false campaign. |
| One of the most obvious pieces of misinformation was spread
by the anti-tax camp, which said an increase in the sales
tax to 5 percent from 4.5 percent would add $2,700 to the
yearly tax bill of a family of four. |
| Talk about fuzzy math! In order to pay an extra $2,700 a
year in taxes because of the proposed tax increase, a family
of four would have to spend about an extra $540,000 a year
($540,000 x 1/2 percent = $2,500). Of course, that's an impossible
average. More likely, the average family making $100,000 a
year would spend an extra $100 in sales tax. ($100,000 minus
expenses for food, medicine, all other taxes, mortgages, savings
and other non-taxable items equals about $20,000 a year on
which a family spends money that is subject to sales tax.
A half percent of $20,000 is $100 a year increase in taxes.) |
| The other misinformation forwarded by anti-growth proponents
is that more taxes means more roads which means more development.
The "build it and they will come" philosophy was a phony and
goofy argument. Just look around you: Developers have always
built houses and office parks even if the roads were not there.
Developers will continue to do that because they can do that
"by right." |
| "I'd rather have gridlock than more taxes" may ring true
for years to come. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
