Over the past few days, people from across the region have been organizing to fight the Better Bus Coalition’s proposed earnings tax increase. Raising this tax will take money from every worker reporting to a job in Cincinnati, and on every city resident who earns a paycheck. This tax increase, if allowed to pass, will take money from every worker who lives or works in the city of Cincinnati to shore up Metro, the operator of the bus and streetcar system.

The parent company of local Metro is SORTA, or the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Agency. SORTA operates the Cincinnati Metro. It currently operates 353 buses, 46 paratransit vehicles and five streetcars. It was founded in 1973 to replace the Cincinnati Transit Commission. The board is made of members appointed by local governments, mostly the city of Cincinnati.

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For historical reasons, the system is not truly regional. SORTA’s Metro bus is centered around Cincinnati, with no lines serving Northern Kentucky or connecting riders to the airport. This puts the SORTA board into a difficult position, with another Transit Authority of Northern Kentucky (TANK) operating the bus system in the populous cities and towns to the south of the Ohio River.

The Enquirer’s Hanna Sparling reported that a whopping 64 percent of people who feel the increase will be people who have chosen to live outside (but work within the city limits) of Cincinnati and will be required to pay the tax. That means, under the Bus Coalition’s proposal, most workers forced to contribute toward the tax increase will have no voice at the ballot box.

In contrast, the data set indicates that only 24 percent of city residents will pay this tax. The tax is designed to hit workers who live in Mason and Blue Ash harder than Madisonville and Bond Hill.

To many of us, this seems an unfair consequence. "No taxation without representation" is one of the most enduring political slogans from America’s revolutionary era, and it remains a serious issue. If the city of Cincinnati voters wish to increase taxes for Metro, they should vote themselves a tax on city residents.

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Political leaders across the region should take note, because this is a money grab by transit activists in the city. County commissioners in Butler and Warren counties should consider removing subsidies to Metro if the vote takes place. Townships such as Delhi and Anderson should work to get Metro buses off their roads, if Cincinnati’s bus riders are going to demand a tax hike on townships.

Cincinnati recently gave millions in tax incentives to construct another sports stadium. The city gives millions of dollars each year to Metro for the operation of the streetcar while major issues, such as the deterioration of the Western Hills Viaduct are left unaddressed. Now, the Better Bus Coalition demands that workers pay more, but they do not have a plan aside from a tax increase.

If the increase happens, Metro has not said how it will spend the money. This leads many to believe any increase will be used to support the streetcar, despite ballot language. We know how funds can be co-mingled and how despite the words on the ballot, sometimes lawmakers twist things in ways that do not reflect the will of voters.

Cam Hardy, president of the group calling for the tax increase was recently quoted in The Enquirer. Hardy said, "We’ve been lied to so much… We can’t trust the SORTA board."

If trust is an issue, why should the taxpayers give SORTA more money to spend? Shouldn’t we look for new solutions that are truly regional and go at least as far as the airport? Is it right to penalize those who work in the city, and won't an increase drive jobs to the suburbs and Kentucky? None of this has been answered by the Better Bus Coalition or its leaders.

In addition, the proposal has a glaring math problem. According to Hardy’s July 2018 editorial, Metro’s "projected deficit is $27.4 million in 2018; $38.4 million in 2019; and $76.7 million in 2020."

According to the Better Bus Coalition’s calculations, the increase will only produce an additional $36 million a year for the bus system. Assuming the streetcar doesn’t take the money produced by the earnings tax increase, it leaves Metro buses about $30 million in deficit by next year.

A better solution is to shut down Metro, to establish a system that actually connects the whole region. Voters must reject this tax increase. There are too many questions that must be answered before it moves forward.

Jordan B. Arnold lives in Mason.



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