Voters in Wayne County rejected a ballot measure last week that would have increased their property taxes to fund an antiquated regional transit system.

Detroiters already pay the highest effective property taxes in the country, and the Regional Transit Authority millage would have raised taxes by $4.6 billion. Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Vice President for Marketing and Communications surmised in a recent Crain’s Detroit Business article that voters said “no” to the measure because it would have focused on transportation technology of the past that wouldn’t have helped public-transit users in the future.

“If our region's voters had been presented with an incremental and thoughtful plan that focused on meeting the requirements of those people who truly need help getting around on a daily basis, it likely would have been successful,” he said.

In pre-election coverage of the tax proposal, Mozena argued in Deadline Detroit that the measure would have added “another layer of bureaucracy” and would have done more harm than good. He said voters, “should question whether the benefits justify adding to the tax burdens of all homeowners and business owners, especially those whose burdens are already more than they can bear.”

Read the full article in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Read a letter to the editor on the subject in Crain’s Detroit Business.

Read the full article in Deadline Detroit.

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