Say ‘No’ to new T-SPLOST tax

That’s the case with the proposed transportation sales tax vote coming up July 31. Known as “T-SPLOST,” the measure asks voters to approve a new sales tax to fund a variety of transportation projects across the state. But unlike a true statewide sales tax, this one will be voted on by regions.

Most of the attention so far has been on the Atlanta region where traffic is a mess. Despite that, many Atlanta area citizens are opposed to the sales tax. There are several reasons for that, including the fact that some studies now show the tax and spending will do very little to fix the area’s traffic problems.

Here in Northeast Georgia, Barrow County is part of a different region than Atlanta — our vote will have nothing to do with fixing Atlanta’s problems. Instead, Barrow County voters will vote along with Jackson, Madison, Clarke, Oconee and other nearby counties on whether or not to tax the region an additional $1 billion over the next 10 years. The vote is regional and even if a county votes against the measure, the region outcome is what matters.

But there are several major issues to consider in whether or not to approve this new tax:

1. Once in place, this sales tax will never go away. Like all other sales taxes, once approved and governments get addicted, they never end.

2. Some 25 percent of the T-SPLOST is really a local government slush fund. Only 75 percent of the money raised will go to a list of regional projects, the rest will be divided among local city and county governments to spend however they wish. This was the state’s “payoff” to get local governments to support the new tax.

3. The T-SPLOST is the result of pure crony capitalism. In addition to salivating local governments, there is a list of special interest groups lined up behind the measure who stand to gain financially if it passes. Road pavers, developers, engineering firms, consultants, etc. all have a hand in promoting this self-serving tax.

4. Recent audits of the Georgia Department of Transportation show a massive amount of waste and fraud in the road-building system. The GDOT is a hotbed of political favoritism and stupid decisions. Think of the HOT lanes the DOT has done in Atlanta along I-85, a move that created a nightmare of traffic problems simply because the DOT wants to charge people for driving on roads we were already taxed on. The T-SPLOST movement is asking voters to give that department even more money to waste.

Proponents of the T-SPLOST claim it will create jobs and will be good for economic development. But state leaders claim that for every decision they make these days. That’s how so-called “conservative” politicians justify higher taxes and more government spending; just say it’s for “jobs” or “economic development” and somehow that makes it ok to raise taxes in Georgia.

Of course, the reason we’re voting on this is that state legislative leaders didn’t have the courage to raise the gas tax in the state. If this money was as critical as leaders claim, why not just raise the gas tax and let those who use the roads the most pay more, especially those out-of-state drivers headed to Florida? That makes more sense than creating a whole new tax.

While the T-SPLOST would create jobs for government workers and their special interest cronies, the average citizen wouldn’t benefit. Nor would the projects have any appreciable impact on economic development. Although officials claim economic development as a key reason for the tax, they have not shown any shred of evidence that the projects on the list would directly impact development.

The bottom line is that it’s not a lack of money that’s the problem in Georgia’s transportation system; it’s waste, fraud and mismanagement by state officials that’s the real issue.

If you trust your government officials from city hall up to the GDOT to spend your tax money efficiently and wisely, then by all means vote in favor of the T-SPLOST tax. If you don’t mind special interest groups and developers getting billions of tax dollars for themselves, then this tax is for you.

But if you’re tired of insider favoritism between the state and the road-building lobby, and you’re tired of the GDOT’s wasteful bureaucracy in inane spending decisions, then you should vote “No” on the tax at the ballot box July 31.

A tax is a tax is a tax. And all the perfume in the world can’t make this T-SPLOST pig smell any better.

Mike Buffington is co-publisher of the Barrow Journal. He can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.