POLITICS: Dems want to tax Bay Area for BART, whether you ride or not

Dems want to tax Bay Area residents for BART, whether they ride or not

A transit system lost riders, watched fare revenue collapse, kept spending, and now wants taxpayers to rescue it. That is not reform. That is dependency.

POLITICS: Dems want to tax Bay Area for BART, whether you ride or not

Sacramento Democrats have found a creative new way to raise taxes. Instead of asking voters in five Bay Area counties to decide separately whether they want to rescue failing transit agencies, they created a regional taxing district that treats millions as one giant voting bloc. Now supporters are celebrating the submission of approximately 306,000 signatures to place a sales tax on the ballot. Do not miss the point: The signatures were not the …