Is transportation tax question biased?

Local News

Discussion

June 27, 2012

Is transportation tax question biased?

Charles Oliver charlesoliver@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Jun 27, 2012, 07:16 AM EDT

The July 31 general primary ballot includes a regional transportation tax, and if all voters know about the tax is what they read on the ballot, they may believe it sounds pretty good.

The preamble to the referendum says the proposed tax, “Provides for local transportation projects to create jobs and improve roads and safety with citizen oversight.”

And that has some critics of the tax seeing red.

Last week, Tax Party groups, conservative activists and others opposed to the tax gathered at the capitol in Atlanta to demand the preamble be removed from the ballot, saying the language was biased in favor of the measure.

The preamble appears on ballot measures across the state that, if approved by voters ,will create 10-year Special Purpose Local Option Sales Taxes (SPLOSTs) to fund transportation plans created for the state’s regional commissions.

Dalton Tea Party organizer Naomi Swanson said the preamble does not provide a neutral description of what the SPLOSTs will do.

“It speaks about the hot issues that will attract voters, such as creating jobs and improving roads. That’s what I would do if I were promoting it,” she said.

Critics of the SPLOSTs note that if all of them pass it would result in the largest tax increase in Georgia history. They’ve questioned whether the state needs that at a time of economic weakness.

The 2010 law that created the SPLOSTs says that the ballot question should read: “Shall ____County’s transportation system and the transportation network in this region and the state be improved by providing for a 1 percent special district transportation sales and use tax for the purpose of transportation projects and programs for a period of ten years?”

And that’s how the actual question does read.

But the law doesn’t mention a preamble. So where does that language come from?

“I have spoken to our legislative council, and he told me it was his understanding that the secretary of state’s office added the preamble. It wasn’t something done by the Legislature,” said Rep. Tom Dickson, R-Cohutta.

The secretary of state’s office did not immediately return telephone messages Monday and Tuesday.

WXIA-TV in Atlanta reported that the secretary of state’s office released a statement last week saying it had consulted regional commissions across the state about the language of the preamble.

But Mike Babb, chairman of the Whitfield County Board of Commissioners, said it doesn’t appear the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission was consulted.

“I don’t recall being asked about a preamble. I’ve asked about this, and no one else recalls being asked. I’ve got one more person I want to talk to, but right now, it doesn’t seem like anyone at the Northwest commission was asked about it,” said Babb, who is also chairman of the regional commission.

Text Only

Local News

Search Results

Discussion

Is transportation tax question biased?

Site Map

Contact Us