MEASURE RTM (Regional Transit Measure)
To prevent major service cuts to BART and other transit, avoid increased traffic, and reduce pollution by: Preserving BART, Caltrain, VTA, SamTrans, AC Transit, Muni, other transit for everyone, including workers, students, seniors, persons with disabilities; Supporting transit safety, cleanliness, affordability, reliability; Repairing targeted roads/potholes; Requiring financial transparency, oversight, accountability; shall the measure enacting a 0.5% (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Santa Clara counties), and 1% (San Francisco) sales tax for 14 years generating approximately $980,000,000 annually, be adopted?
Vote Required: 50%+1*
*Majority over multiple counties.
Criteria:
1-Intent and structure of the tax (i.e. a % or rate for a sales or transfer tax, or a $ per parcel or square foot for a parcel tax).
2- Amount of tax generated per year and the duration of the tax.
3- Is this a Special or General tax? (The more specific it’s described, so that one can easily figure which it is, the more credit they get).
4- Where is the money specifically going? (particularly if a special tax).
5-Is there an existing or similar tax already in place? If so, that tax information should be included.
****** Extraneous language unrelated to the matter (-1 point )
SCORE: 3.2
Comments: The score was lowered from the maximum of five because of the failure to provide meaningful information on where the money was specifically going. As described, the money was going everywhere without apparent priority. There was also no mention of whether there were any existing taxes in place, ignoring the sizable existing Alameda County one cent sales taxes already being collected for transportation. There is also a lack of needed clarity as to how the multi-county voting will work.
