No Tax for Tracks

Vote NO on commuter rail when you vote on November 2nd

Without a referendum of the people, the downtown Madison County Board majority voted to set up an unelected Regional Transit Authority (RTA) with the power to borrow $127 million and tax us $38 million a year to support commuter rail that would go only 16 miles — from Middleton to the Town of Burke.

We will have the highest sales tax in the state! The proposed half-cent increase in the sales tax needed to pay for the train’s operating subsidy would give Dane County the highest sales tax in Wisconsin!

It will make Downtown Madison traffic congestion worse! This proposed train from Middleton to the town of Burke will cross 58 streets and bike paths between 80 and 160 times a day – a total of 9,040 railroad crossings every day!

No taxation without representation! The Regional Transit Authority is NOT elected. People who live outside of villages and cities are NOT represented. The tax it imposes is NOT subject to a mandatory referendum.

Money spent on trains can’t be spent on buses! Train passengers will have to pay $2 a ride, while the taxpayers kick in an extra $43 per ride in taxpayer subsidies. That leaves less money for buses that will serve many more riders!

Commuter rail costs too much money! Simply laying the tracks and buying the trains and buses will cost local taxpayers AT LEAST $127 million — the most expensive project in Dane County history.