Top 5 Reasons We Say "No Tax For Tracks" In Dane County!

5. We don't want to have the highest sales tax in the state!
         The proposed half-cent increase in the slaes tax needed to pay for the train's operating subsidy would give Dane County the highest sales tax in Wisconsin!
          People would shop elsewhere fo rbig-ticket items like furniture, cars, boats, and building supplies for new homes, which will kill good-paying jobs.  Also, a sales tax is a regressive tax that hits the poor the hardest - those with the least ability to pay!

4. It will make Downtown traffic congestion worse!
         This proposed train from Middleton to the town of Burke will not be underground, like the New York subway, it will not be up in the air, like Chicago's "El".
         It will cross 64 streets and bike paths between 80 and 160 times a day - a total of 9,040 total crossings every day, bringing traffic to a standstill each and every time!  For everyone who doesn't take the train route, that means longer commutes and wasted gas.
3. No taxation without representation!
         The Legislature drew the boundaries for the Regional Transit Authority - the unelected body that has the power to raise the sales tax - in such a way that not all of Dane County is included.  Cottage Grove, Stoughton and McFarland are in, for example, while Deerfield, DeForest and Mt Horeb are out.  That means people who live outside the RTA will NOT get to vote on whether to build the train - but they WILL HAVE TO PAY higher sales taxes every tiem they shop in Madison or any other city or village inside the RTA district.
2. Money spent on trains can't be spent on buses!
         An expanded bus system would be more flexible and could serve every community in the county, instead of just those people who live along the train route.  Buses are a far better option for helping children, the elderly and the handicapped - people who truly depend on mass transit - to get to where they want to go.  But the operating cost for the train (passengers are expected to pay $2 a ride, while the taxpayers kick in and extra $43 per ride in subsidy money) will eat up most of the $40 million a year the sales tax hike will raise.  That means a lot less money for other modes of transportation that could serve many more people!

And the No. 1 reason........
1. Commuter rail is just too costly!
         Simply laying the tracks and buying the trains will cost AT LEAST $255 MILLION - and that's a 2003 estimate! -- making it the most expensive project in Dane County history.  The federal government may provide half of that money, but the Regional Transit Authority will still have to ante up more that $125 million.  And then there's the $43 per ride operating subsidy, day in and day out, year in and year out, to benefit an estimated 11,000 riders a year. (Madison Metro serves about 10,000 riders per year, and nobody knows how many current Metro users will switch to the train or how many new riders the train will attract.)

For more information, contact Mike Thomsen at MIKEDATE21@GMAIL.COM