Georgia Considers Regional Taxes for Transportation

27 March 2008 - 12:00pm

Lawmakers in Georgia are considering a plan to ask voters in rural areas to decide whether they want to pay a regional sales tax to fund transportation projects -- a response to the state's few funding sources for transit projects.

"State representatives are scheduled to decide Thursday whether to allow a one-cent regional sales tax for transportation."

"It's called a TSPLOST, and if the measure becomes law, the 16 Regional Development Centers around the state could ask voters to approve a one-cent sales tax for transportation projects in their areas."

"Many elected officials, including Bibb County Commission Chairman Charlie Bishop, say they need more Revenue sources."

"'I know that they've got to look at someway to raise money for roads and infrastructures, because the cost of maintaining and building roads has gone so high," Bishop said."

"Under the proposal, people in several regional counties would vote on whether to levy the tax, giving more power to development commissions."

Source: WMAZ, March 27, 2008
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All of that only scratches the surface of what's wrong with this study. The idea that complex urban development patterns and human behavior can be meaningfully studied according to one primary criteria — density — is wrong from the start.