Just as Mayor Anthony Williams signed legislation that officially authorized the public financing of a new Nationals baseball stadium, the mayor came out and said that he wasn’t too keen on the idea of a new regional sales tax to fund area transit, the AP, via WJLA, reports. The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has come out in support of a regional sales tax for transit.
A blue ribbon panel assembled by the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has suggested that a 0.5 percent sales tax could be the solution for WMATA constant struggle to find a dedicated funding source. Currently, the regional transit agency must beg for cash from the jurisdictions it serves in order to meet its operating costs.
As the AP notes, the District is already heavily taxed, with a 5.75 percent sales tax and a 10 percent meals tax.
