The real conundrum for residents and taxpayers of Hawai'i is that you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you don't want to fund light rail or some other form of public transportation and then don't use it once it's built, you will forever be doomed to griping about crowded roads and long commutes, which will result in your paying more for gas, frayed nerves and increase your blood pressure.
People of the East Coast consider public transportation as a fact of life because it's so crowded and costs more to live there. People on the West Coast have almost the same mentality as the people in Hawai'i, where we wouldn't be caught dead on a bus or train if we can drive our cars.
But for the public good, the voters in the State of Washington have approved funding for a regional light rail system and in the City of Seattle, we've approved expanding our monorail line three times over the last 8 years! Yes, it increases my property tax, but I think that's the price I pay for living in this city and wanting it to remain a good place to live. I would probably take a train to get to work (I commute 50 miles a day) to eliminate the cost of fuel and the hassles with traffic.
Using the excise tax as a way to pay for this is probably not the best way to go about it, though, because it most impacts the lower income people, although they would be the ones who would get the most benefit from it.
Miulang
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln07p.html
People of the East Coast consider public transportation as a fact of life because it's so crowded and costs more to live there. People on the West Coast have almost the same mentality as the people in Hawai'i, where we wouldn't be caught dead on a bus or train if we can drive our cars.
But for the public good, the voters in the State of Washington have approved funding for a regional light rail system and in the City of Seattle, we've approved expanding our monorail line three times over the last 8 years! Yes, it increases my property tax, but I think that's the price I pay for living in this city and wanting it to remain a good place to live. I would probably take a train to get to work (I commute 50 miles a day) to eliminate the cost of fuel and the hassles with traffic.
Using the excise tax as a way to pay for this is probably not the best way to go about it, though, because it most impacts the lower income people, although they would be the ones who would get the most benefit from it.
Miulang
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/ar.../ln/ln07p.html
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