MARTA
Tax_Sucks.Com
Below is a listing
with links to all the articles on MARTA which appeared in The DISH (Dot's
Information Service Hotline), as well as a letter to the editor of the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a proposal for South DeKalb rail service
submitted to the MARTA board. This web site is being developed to provide
Atlanta, DeKalb and Fulton Counties' taxpayers a voice in what happens to
MARTA.
By
John Burl Smith
Lamenting a $600
million shortfall, Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) General
Manager Nathaniel Ford declared expansion has reached a point of diminishing
returns. Agreeing, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (2-24-03) outlined former
Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes' sleazy and illegal takeover of MARTA, the DeKalb and
Fulton Counties' publicly owned transportation system. The facts show that the
Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) is to blame for MARTA's $600M
shortfall.
Forecasting an
epiphany for local leaders, the AJC outlined a new vision of equitable regional
transportation funding. However, such pronouncements do not allay fears of
"business as usual." Considering "business as usual," in
January, Wayne Hill began "unofficial" private discussions with the
"usual suspects," Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) members. On
February 11, 2003, MARTA representatives met with Fulton County Commission
Chairman Mike Kenn, ARC board members, developer Tad Leithead and Roswell Mayor
Jere Wood. This cabal scheduled a retreat to be held the following day at
Callaway Gardens. The retreat's attendees rubber-stamped the ARC's
transportation decisions made at "unofficial" meetings without public
comment.
The new transportation
proposal includes a one-cent regional sales tax; it does not repeal the current
MARTA one-cent sales tax, which is levied in DeKalb and Fulton Counties. This
proposal creates still another GRTA-type board to oversee the funds.
MARTA was not
mentioned in order to avoid speaking in public about the need to compensate
DeKalb and Fulton residents for their many years of supporting MARTA, while
people like Wayne Hill made careers opposing public transportation. Classic
taxation without representation, MARTA's one-cent sales tax is the sole source
of dedicated public transportation funding. DeKalb and Fulton residents pay it
for everyone. Yet, no one presents their views or represents their interests in
making public transportation decisions.
The history of
MARTA's financial problems is well known, and this new proposal is another
GRTA. First, Barnes' plan called for the 13-county region to come under GRTA's
board; it was supposed to replace the ARC. Secondly, it made DeKalb and Fulton
County residents solely responsible for paying MARTA's one-cent sales tax. Over
their objections, Barnes claimed MARTA as the regional transportation hub, but
refused to compensate DeKalb and Fulton residents, its owners. Supported by
legislators, like Vernon Jones, now DeKalb CEO, Barnes assumed MARTA's purse
strings, giving the state total control of all federal mass transit funds
coming to Atlanta (MARTA). This allowed the state to use the MARTA tax as
matching funds to qualify for public transit grants and to repay bonds. Even
though it is prohibited by law from giving MARTA one cent, through GRTA's
takeover, the state diverted MARTA funds to start up bus service for Clayton
and Gwinnett. This created MARTA's $600M shortfall.
A slap across
South DeKalb residents' faces, Barnes forced MARTA to rescind plans to build an
I-20 rail line and to redirect it west to service Cobb and Douglas Counties,
which do not pay the MARTA one-cent sales tax. However, the most egregious
aspect of this outrageous episode is the state's refusal to compensate DeKalb
and Fulton County residents for taking their publicly owed transportation
system, which they supported. Other counties that are now enjoying its benefits
refused to pay the MARTA tax. Adding insult to injury, under Barnes, the
legislature extended the one-cent MARTA tax levied only on DeKalb and Fulton
Counties until 2047.
MARTA:
Fare Hike?
There is no question
that south DeKalb taxpayers do not support the proposed MARTA fare increase! In
The DISH survey of 1,630 south DeKalb County residents, the
majority 83% opposed the MARTA proposed fare increase. Of those who use MARTA
as a primary source of transportation, 49% thought the fare was already too
steep. Poor people with shallow pockets, they say they have to dig deep to
afford the current fare. Denied rapid rail, they are stuck with time-consuming
buses. Homeowners, some 71% of the respondents, believe the MARTA sales tax
should be eliminated. These taxpayers are concerned and wonder why they pay
this tax, when the service it affords is given to others, who refused to
approve the referendum that created MARTA. Now, with a proposed fare increase
on the drawing board, MARTA's decision to raise the fare will be made by
interests in Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett Counties where the MARTA sales tax is
not even imposed.
South DeKalb
residents bear the greatest share of the burden of financing MARTA, yet this
portion of the county has the least amount of say so in how MARTA spends tax
dollars collected from county residents. This is taxation without
representation. With silence from our elected representatives, MARTA officials
can plan to give us buses, rather than the rail we paid for and continue to
subsidize for other non-MARTA sales tax areas and nothing is said. This
situation makes south DeKalb synonymous with a cash cow. Remember when cotton
was king before the cotton gin? Slaves were put in the fields to till the soil
and pick the cotton. Now, people's incomes from jobs are farmed like cotton;
the system use fines, fees, taxes and imprisonment to suck people dry. South
DeKalb residents are the obvious victims of this kind of neo-slavery.
South DeKalb
residents demand rapid rail to downtown Atlanta, the same level of rapid rail
service that is available leaving downtown Atlanta headed to other areas,
especially northern DeKalb and Fulton Counties. South DeKalb residents oppose
the MARTA proposed fare increase. Moreover, they demand the removal of the
MARTA sales tax, since they have fulfilled the original referendum obligation,
and the legislature illegally extended the life of this regressive tax without
putting the matter before voters in a referendum.
Legislation,
Letters, Route Proposal & Lawsuit
How State Legislators Voted on GRTA and MARTA Sales Tax
Request to Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker
Articles
on MARTA Published in The DISH
The DISH Volume 3 No 3
The DISH Volume 3 No 4
The DISH Volume 3 No 7
The DISH Volume 3 No 10
The DISH Volume 3 No 12
The DISH Volume 3 No 14
The DISH Volume 3 No 23
The DISH Volume 3 No 38