As a rule, I have been laudatory of Arlington County’s transportation and land use policies, which have created an urban environment supportive of walking, bikes, buses and Metro rail as an alternative to the one-man/one-car lifestyle. But there is a downside: It’s expensive.
Yesterday, Arlington County moved one step closer to hiking taxes on retail and commercial properties in order to raise $37.5 million in transportation improvements, including the Columbia Pike trolley and the Crystal City Potomac Yard transit project. Reports Kirstin Downey with the Washington Post:
If the tax increase is approved, as appears likely, Arlington would become the second Northern Virginia county, after Fairfax, to take advantage of a provision in the state transportation agreement passed by the General Assembly in April that allows local jurisdictions to increase commercial tax rates and keep the money to spend on transportation projects. The state previously required that governments impose a uniform tax on residential and commercial properties.
Local Republicans, a powerless minority in Arlington, have protested the proposed tax increase. But Downey says the business lobby has generally been supportive “because of widespread belief that transportation improvements are vitally needed.”
Here’s the question that Arlingtonians need to ask: What’s the cost/benefit ratio for the proposed transportation projects? How much will Arlingtonians save in reduced traffic congestion and/or the ability to shift to a one-car-per-household lifestyle in comparison to the cost of funding the projects? The Washington Post does not ask the question. Citizens and taxpayers should.
