Here’s Bruce Siceloff on light rail, though sadly employing the "nickel" sales tactic politicians are fond of:
The measure would allow Triangle voters to consider implementing a half-cent sales tax dedicated to public transit. Proceeds from the tax — a nickel on every $10 purchase — could cover more than half the cost of a 27-year, $8.2 billion rail-bus plan proposed recently by a three-county citizen advisory panel.
Remember, it’s just a nickel. On a $10 purchase, it’s just an extra nickel. Wouldn’t you want to pay that? For the ‘common good?’ Nevermind whether you or not live in Knightdale or Holly Springs, North Durham or any other unserved part of the county. It’s just a nickel for the rich folks.
Let’s pass over that those nickels add up — particularly the poor. Let’s pass over that those people and all their nickels (nickel after nickel) amounting to billions, will be taken from the economy so that wealthier people in North Raleigh, Chapel Hill and Cary will have a shiny new train to rival Charlotte’s. Doesn’t this smell funny to anybody?
-Max Borders
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