“For so long, public transit in this State has not been properly funded or made a priority for our communities; that needs to end today," said Senator Mark McKenney.
while Speaker Shekarchi is indeed in a tough spot with lots of demands on a constrained budget, some of this is due to his own priorities: his opposition to increase taxes on the very wealthy as MA did; his support for allocating of a whopping $235 million from the General Fund to eliminate property taxes on cars, an allocation that disproportionately benefits households with lots of expensive cars but is little or no benefit to those with no cars or one older one; his opposition to reallocate some of the gas tax to RIPTA so it also keeps up with inflation is in effect saying that RIDOT's massive highway capacity expansions (on Rt 95, 295, 146, 37, 6-10) so that motorists can go faster is more important than keeping the transit system going that for some people is essential, but also needed by all to help address climate, safety, congestion, affordable housing...(especially disappointing as RIDOT will be getting even more funding from reimposing truck tolls and maybe even from new EV fees the Governor proposed
while Speaker Shekarchi is indeed in a tough spot with lots of demands on a constrained budget, some of this is due to his own priorities: his opposition to increase taxes on the very wealthy as MA did; his support for allocating of a whopping $235 million from the General Fund to eliminate property taxes on cars, an allocation that disproportionately benefits households with lots of expensive cars but is little or no benefit to those with no cars or one older one; his opposition to reallocate some of the gas tax to RIPTA so it also keeps up with inflation is in effect saying that RIDOT's massive highway capacity expansions (on Rt 95, 295, 146, 37, 6-10) so that motorists can go faster is more important than keeping the transit system going that for some people is essential, but also needed by all to help address climate, safety, congestion, affordable housing...(especially disappointing as RIDOT will be getting even more funding from reimposing truck tolls and maybe even from new EV fees the Governor proposed