3 Transportation Propositions

Commuter and intercity rail systems are the only real solution to tailpipe pollution and jampacked freeways. So on Tuesday we should vote for Prop. 116. It will fund rapid-rail projects throughout the state and start work on high-speed trains between Los Angeles and the Bay Area to end today’s air-fare rip-offs.

Prop. 108 also would fund rail projects. But the connivers in Sacramento fixed it so we can’t have Prop. 108 without also passing Prop. 111. And that one makes many people very nervous. It’s advertised as a gas tax for more freeways. But read its text in your Ballot Pamphlet. You find no mention of building freeways. Instead, it takes the lid off state spending. The link with freeways is in separate legislation. So after they get you to approve Prop. 111, the lobbyists and politicians are free to change those laws or make new ones to romp through the new loopholes in spending.

And an added gas tax would be doubly regressive. On top of the new gas tax we would pay more sales tax. The Rolls-Royce owner would pay the same as the single mother driving an old Datsun. She’ll feel the tax bite. But the guy in the Rolls?

In contrast, Prop. 116 is not a new tax. It’s a bond issue. It’s not regressive because its costs will come from general state revenues, derived more evenhandedly from all income sources. Vote Yes on Prop. 116. Defeat Prop. 111. Maybe then Sacramento will pay attention and give us a clear-cut freeway bill we can pass.

CHARLES T. NEWTON

Del Mar