Committee endorses transit tax hike, sends plan to full council

Originally posted to ibj.com on February 21, 2017 by Susan Orr.

A proposed Marion County transit tax—one that would pay for more buses, more frequent pickups and rapid transit routes—moved closer to reality Tuesday after a City-County Council committee agreed to move the issue forward for full council debate next week.

With a 5-2 vote, the council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee endorsed raising local income taxes 0.25 percentage point, a move that would cost a resident with $100,000 in taxable income $250 per year. The full council is set to discuss and vote on the plan Monday.

The committee vote came after Mayor Joe Hogsett’s top adviser urged members to say yes—the first time the Mayor’s Office had expressed an opinion publicly about whether the tax increase should pass. Chief of Staff Thomas Cook told councilors that Marion County residents want “genuine transformative investment” in transit.

For the full article, visit http://www.ibj.com/articles/62629-committee-endorses-transit-tax-hike-sends-plan-to-full-council?utm_source=news-update&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=2017-02-21.