WMATA GM talks sales tax to help fund transit agency

https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/loca ... s/3496999/

Metro's general manager says a regional tax should be discussed to permanently fund the transit agency. His comments come as WMATA faces a massive $750 million budget shortfall.

WMATA General Manager Randy Clarke spoke to News4 on Sunday about major questions facing regarding the future of Metro, including potential budget and service cuts, plus what a new arena could mean for the Potomac Yard station.

The New York MTA has a regional MTA tax in the statutory defined metropolitan region, but only as income and
payroll tax, as well as levied on certain business and real estate transactions.

3 reasons for their money shortfall:
1) WMATA will exhaust the federal government COVID relief fund next year
2) Ridership is still down from pre-pandemic levels as federal workers are still teleworking several days a week
3) WMATA lost revenue from fare gate jumpers. They are in the process of upgrading to taller fare gates

You have to wonder where WMATA got the money to repair the 7000 series trains and upgrade the fare gates

We cannot have a 20% fare raise next year for poorer service. They just raise fares this year