DC Fiscal Policy Institute, Maryland Center on Economic Policy, and The Commonwealth Institute: Triple Whammy: A Regional Sales Tax for Metro, Like Fare Hikes and Service Cuts, Would Fall Hardest on Struggling Families
ITEP Work in ActionA strong Metro system is important to all of us in the Washington region. It is fundamental to a healthy economy and our area’s good quality of life, by helping workers get to their jobs, supporting our tourism industry, making it easy to get to a restaurant or a ballpark, and reducing traffic congestion. And everyone agrees that the Metro system needs new resources to rebuild its health. But a regional sales tax—a widely discussed option—would be an unfair way to pay for it. A sales tax would ask struggling families in the Washington region to bear the largest responsibility for improving our transportation system, while leaving businesses and high-income households largely off the hook.
The impact on family income of a 1 percent regional sales tax—a widely discussed Metro funding option—would be five times greater for the lowest-income families in the region, as a share of their income, as it would be for the richest families.