Published: June 06, 2010
Candidate Urges Hillsborough Residents To Join Fight Against New Tax Increase
Brian Blair, Republican candidate for the District 47 seat in the Florida House of Representatives, is making it clear that he is against raising the sales tax in Hillsborough County to support a new light rail system.
"The Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners, led by Mark Sharpe (R), has already put a sales tax increase on the November ballot," claimed Blair. "This would raise our sales tax from 7% to 8%."
"It doesn't sound like much when the proponents call it a 'one cent' tax increase," added Blair, " but in reality, Hillsborough County consumers will pay 14% more in sales tax if they vote 'yes' in November."
"This is nothing more than 'keeping up with the Jones.'"
"Jim Norman and Al Higginbotham voted against the referendum and Ken Hagan has raised significant concerns, indicating he doesn't believe the initiative will come close to passing."
That said, Brian Blair is taking no chances with the taxpayers' dollars and cited several more reasons for his opposition to the new tax hike:
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, or HART as it is called, took in $12, 789,430 in ticket sales last year and reported an operating loss of $63,481,153. The primary source for funding these losses is county property taxes.
If the new sales tax referendum passes in November, HART will need over 7 BILLION DOLLARS in CAPITAL and another 7 BILLION DOLLARS for future OPERATING EXPENSES. Residents are already questioning the fact that the initial construction doesn't even run to the airport.
That means that 100% of Hillsborough County taxpayers will foot the bill for 2 to 3% of the population that actually ride the new Light Rail system. Hillsborough County has one of the highest unemployment rates in the State of Florida and shouldn't burden its residents with more taxes during the worst economic times of our lives.
The proposed sales tax increase would place Hillsborough on top as the county with the highest sales tax in Florida and subsequently discourage new businesses from opening up in the county.
The one cent (14% sales tax increase) will adversely affect all of Hillsborough County businesses as folks will go to surrounding counties especially for "big ticket" items like autos, trucks, appliances etc.
Tampa won the bid to host Superbowls and won the right to host the Republican National Convention in 2012 even while competing against cities that already have light rail systems.
The (Hart) Bus Line reported that bus ridership was down by 3.1% this past fiscal year yet certain politicians say that Hillsborough County is setting record "Bus Ridership." Blair said those record setting numbers stated by politicians are misleading; Fact- Every time someone steps on the bus, they are a rider; if they are going downtown from North Tampa, they are a rider on the way to downtown and they are a NEW rider on the way back to their origin - if they have to board a connector on the way - they are again counted as a NEW rider (per Hart's own admission).
The world renown transportation professionals at the Center for Urban Transportation and Research (CUTR) located at the University of South Florida cited in different reports that the "Rail is likely to Fail" in Hillsborough County via the lack of densities, unforeseen cost over runs, maintenance and operation, and the unique county layout that is almost the size of the State of Rhode Island (H.C. is 1078.2 square miles -vs- R.I. 1221 square miles).
The New Jersey Transit System (largest in the nation)) claims over 3 million riders per year yet it is still subsidized by over 1 billion dollars per year from the taxpayers of New Jersey. This does not even include the $700 million dollar capital depreciation loss annually. New Jersey was recently in the main stream news as being on the verge of bankruptcy.
The USA Today newspaper wrote that if you expect rail to mediate congestion - think again; Rail and bus combined does not take more than 5% of the traffic off the road and the national average of folks with accessibility to rail is less than 20%. In fact, in many cases rail will have to cross roads that will create more traffic congestion.
Sales tax is the MOST REGRESSIVE tax to the lower wage earners, and the proposed increase will further limit their spending capabilities.
The federal government" has mandated that in ten years cars will get twice the MPG as cars of today do. We will have smaller vehicles (this allows many more cars on the road via measurement) through battery, hydrogen as well as many other fuel options. That's why Toyota and Tesla just agreed to mass produce electric cars in California.
Construction of a light rail system will NOT create some terrific number of jobs for Hillsborough County. Most of the raw materials needed for construction have to be purchased elsewhere.
People are already comparing a proposed light rail system in Hillsborough County to one in Orlando which is funded by a "Tourist Tax" and one in Miami which is now referred to as "Metro Fail." ( Not to mention that both communities have higher population densities than Tampa)."
"I want the good people of Hillsborough County to be aware that it only takes a simple majority of voters to pass a bill like this in Hillsborough County," stated Blair. "The State of Florida has made changes for state wide votes so it takes 60% "yes" votes to pass a state referendum."
"In times like this when we have been hit so hard by the recession, local government should be implementing two strategies; first, reducing unnecessary spending and second, investing tax dollars into money making projects, not into projects doomed to be heavily subsidized for generations to come."
"The proposed Light Rail system is a luxury, not a necessity."
Website: http://brianblair.com
For interview opportunities to hear Brian Blair discuss the proposed "Light Rail Tax," contact Shannon Rose at Eclectic Media Productions at: (813) 960-8412; (813) 389-0801; or info@mediaproductions.tv
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