Everyone agrees traffic is a problem in Baton Rouge, but it doesn’t mean the recently revived tax to fund infrastructure upgrades is a shoe-in to even make it on the ballot this fall, let alone get enough votes to be put in place.
Mayor Sharon Weston Broome has proposed half-cent sales tax that would raise $912 million to fund more than 60 road projects outlined in a list Broome release on Thursday. The Metro Council is set to hold a public hearing on the tax proposal and vote on whether or not to place it on the ballot at its meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 8.
Some argue that sales taxes are regressive—because low-income individuals bear a higher percentage burden—and Baton Rouge already has one of the nation’s highest sales tax rates. But at the same time, more conservative voters feel that sales taxes—where everyone pays—are more “fair” than property taxes.
Then there are also concerns that this tax proposal could compete with a possible tax that would be used to build a new bridge across the Mississippi River. An act passed this spring created The Capital Area Road and Bridge District, which is comprised of representatives from five parishes who are looking to get a third bridge built.
Language in the act allows the district a variety of funding mechanisms, from tolls to four potential taxing options: a property tax, an annual parcel fee not to exceed $500, a sales tax not to exceed 1% or bonds secured by ad valorem and sales taxes, but any tax would need the approval of voters in East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Ascension, Iberville and Livingston parishes. What would voters choose if both taxes ended up on the ballot?
Then there are those who simply don’t feel any tax is worth approving at this point, as well as those who simply don’t trust the government after controversies surrounding the Council on Aging tax.
In short: Broome’s administration will have to work hard to pass a tax that addresses a problem—traffic—everyone agrees needs addressing.
