What is T-SPLOST?
Radio Commentary, 90.7, 91.7 New Life FM, June 1, 2012
By Sue Ella Deadwyler
Good morning, Jim. For months we’ve heard about T-SPLOST and, if it passes on the July 31st ballot, another one-percent sales and use tax will be tacked onto each purchase and certain services for at least ten years. It may be forever, considering the promise-breaking extension of the 400 poll, which is a service tax, since the highway’s paid for! Actually, the plan allows for a “re-imposition” of T-SPLOST, even before its proposed life-span ends.
T-SPLOST, short for “transportation special local option sales tax,” was authorized in the Transportation Investment Act (TIA) that became law in June 2010. That Act created four different commissions to oversee future transportation projects and created 12 transportation regions, with 10 to 18 counties in each region. The two regions with 10 are Atlanta Region 3 and Coastal Region 12. With 18 counties, Southern Region 11 is the largest. T-SPLOST is expected to generate from $398 million in the Heart of Georgia Region, which is Region 9, to $8.5 billion in the densely populated Atlanta Region.
Each region that passes T-SPLOST is authorized to create a five-member Citizens Review Panel. Three members will be appointed by the Speaker of the House and two by the Lieutenant Governor. The Panel will meet at least three times a year and publish a progress report online, and in written form to the Department of Transportation and the General Assembly.
T-SPLOST has no opt-out for counties that do not want the plan. That’s a big problem, because the vote will be based on population in each region, not the population of each county. For example, in Region 3 where I live, the densely populated DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Henry counties could pass the tax with a 60-percent yes to 40-percent no. The other six counties could vote just the opposite – 40-percent yes and 60-percent no – and the tax would pass, although six out of ten counties reject it.
References to T-SPLOST as a “one-cent” tax might leave the impression that one penny will be added to each item purchased. But it’s a one-percent sales and use tax, as mentioned in the question that will be on the July 31st ballot, as quoted below. So, a penny tax will be added to every dollar spent on purchases and a penny tax will be added to every dollar spent on certain services, as well. There’s much more to T-SPLOST than meets the eye. I’ll tell you more, later.
On July 31st Georgia voters will answer this question: “Shall [your] County’s transportation system and the transportation network in this region and the state be improved by providing for a 1 percent special district transportation sales and use tax for the purpose of transportation projects and programs for a period of ten years?” For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.