Where is the money, Governor?

By Bob Williams, Evergreen Freedom Foundation

7/12/01 - Olympia, WA - To hear Governor Locke tell it, citizens have two options when it comes to
transportation: increase taxes . . . or face unending gridlock.  Locke is
using this ultimatum to pressure lawmakers into passing what he hopes will
be a $12 billion increase in transportation taxes and fees over the next ten
years.

But the governor isn't telling the whole story.  Indeed, he's leaving out a
critical part: citizens are not getting their money's worth for the taxes
they already pay.

Before he even considers squeezing more money out of taxpayers with a 7 cent
per gallon increase in the gas tax, an additional 2% sales tax on cars, and
a 50% gross-weight surcharge in big trucks, Locke owes us an explanation for
the following facts.

Of the nearly $700 million Washington citizens currently pay each year in
sales taxes for the purchase of cars and other automotive items, none goes
toward transportation improvement.  Strange, considering that transportation
maintenance and development is the supposed purpose of such taxes.

Of the 23 cents per gallon motorists pay in state gas taxes, only half goes
to the Department of Transportation.  And of that half, much is spent on
more studies and the like, not new roads.

And how about the Sound Transit Light Rail boondoggle?  It had an original
price tag of $2.5 billion and a completion date of 2007.  That cost went up
within three months to $3.5 billion with a new completion date of 2009.  It
is now estimated to be the most expensive light rail project in the nation,
and still it has no firm budget or top-notch management team in place.

Even worse, the most optimistic forecast for mass transit shows that after
investing billions in the light rail, only 3-5% of the state's population
will actually use it.  That's about how many use the transit system now.
Yet a large portion of all federal transportation funding is directed to the
light rail project instead of to the roads the other 97% of the state's
citizens use.

Speaking of federal funding, Washington motorists pay an 18.4 cent federal
gas tax on each gallon of gas they buy.  But the federal government needs
only 3 cents per gallon to fund its role in our transportation system.  Much
of the remaining 15.4 cents is lost in the massive federal bureaucracy
before some trickles back into the state.

Why isn't Governor Locke encouraging Senator Patty Murray with her new
federal transportation clout to reduce the federal gas tax to what is needed
and allow the state to keep the rest?  It would yield an additional $462
million a year for state transportation needs.

These few items alone would bring in more money over the next ten years than
the Governor's proposed tax and fee increases.

On another front, when the Evergreen Freedom Foundation asked for an
accurate count of how many passengers ride the ferries, Ferry System
operators couldn't tell us.  Nor could they accurately account for ferry
revenues when they were audited by the State Auditor.  If ferry officials
can't keep track of how many passengers walk through the ticket lines and
how much they pay, how can taxpayers trust them to manage the millions of
dollars they want?  Why isn't our Governor calling for meaningful reforms
and accountability measures before asking us for more money?

Where is the current money, Governor?

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Governor Locke will stop holding us
hostage with threats of worsening gridlock.  Furthermore, while the governor
has stated publicly that he would demand any tax increase proposal to be
sent to the voters for approval, he has now changed his mind and wants the
legislature to pass it without voter review.

Why?  It's easy to understand when polls show that voters will have none of
it.  They want accountability for their money.  They're sick of paying more
money for fewer results every year.

To add salt to the wound, while Locke also publicly asked citizens to "hold
us [state officials] accountable," he made that impossible last week by
vetoing the legislature's request for performance measures in the
transportation budget.  That means no performance audits of the Department
of Transportation.

Citizens want improved traffic and an efficient transportation system.  They
want more money spent on roads instead of studies and commissions.  They do
not want to pay higher taxes when the billions of dollars already being
pumped in to the system are unaccounted for.

Governor Locke's response to these legitimate demands seems to be a flippant
"just give me your money and don't look over my shoulder."  It is an
unprofessional and unacceptable attitude, and the governor needs to answer
for it.

Until then, the cry of the citizens must be heeded: No new taxes!

Bob Williams is president of the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, a non-profit
public policy research organization based in Olympia.  He can be reached at
(360) 956-3482 or effwa@effwa.org.