SMC: Let’s not risk our own sales tax revenue just to save BART
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Does MTC have a dissenter in its ranks? San Mateo County’s rep wants out of a 2026 tax hike to rescue the Bay Area’s transit agencies. After all, SMC already helps fund BART and Caltrain, she pointed out. A San Carlos councilman also argued in a letter that a half cent regional hike will undermine the county’s own sales tax that’s up for renewal in 2033. From Palo Alto Daily Post.
San Mateo County wants to get out of a Bay Area-wide sales tax to fund public transportation agencies, according to Millbrae Vice Mayor Gina Papan, who represents the county on the regional agency advancing a measure
Papan asked the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to allow San Mateo County to opt out of the tax and to guarantee its revenue would be spent locally.
San Mateo County already pays into BART and Caltrain and wants control over how its money is spent, Papan said at an MTC meeting on Monday.
San Mateo County has a sales tax expiring in 2033, and a regional sales tax would undermine efforts to renew it, San Carlos Councilman Adam Rak said in the letter.
What's on the table: A half-cent sales tax or a sales tax combined with a parcel tax are on the table, raising anywhere from $540 million to $1.5 billion per year.
From the Palo Alto Daily Post.
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