Georgia’s residents in nine of 12 special transportation regions voted against the 10-year Transportation Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (T-SPLOST) on all sales in the counties within that particular region. The vote was to approve a sales tax to fund a list of transportation improvements in each of Georgia’s 12 economic regions. Had the 1-cent sales tax increase passed in all 12 regions, it would have raised an estimated $19 billion over the next 10 years. The funds were earmarked for transportation improvements.
We feel the T-SPLOST not passing was unfortunate, as it sought a means for Georgia to make the necessary investments into our transportation and highway systems. We think that perhaps politics got in the way, as people reacted and decided to vote “No.”
The Atlanta area has a traffic problem. The T-SPLOST was intended to improve traffic flow. While we feel there should be some coordination between the different regions of Atlanta, it is likely that those who live in the suburbs did not want to pay for something that did not affect them directly.
We feel any improvements to traffic would have helped all areas. It is likely that improved traffic down town could increase property values in areas outside the perimeter, as driving into town would be seen as less of a burden.
In our opinion, the referendum did not pass because it is a tax increase. General sentiment is very anti-tax at this time.