Nonusers shouldn’t pay

With the Spokane Transit Authority asking voters to approve higher sales taxes to pay for added services, those of us outside the service area are not allowed to vote. If this does pass, those of us who were not allowed to vote should take our business elsewhere – to Idaho, for instance. I’m sure they considered the fact that if more people who don’t have access to STA’s service but are expected to pay for it anyway were allowed to vote it would surely fail.

It’s pretty ridiculous to ask non-users of STA to pay more (we already pay over two-thirds of the cost) without asking actual riders to pay more (increase fares). It costs most auto drivers several hundred dollars a month to own and operate our vehicles, and we also have to pay for STA users as well.

It’s time to demand users pay their own way instead of demanding those of us who don’t use it to pay more.

The old saying goes: “When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can always count on Paul’s support.” Not allowing Peter a say in the matter is not only unfair, it’s outright theft. It’s taxation without representation. Isn’t that unconstitutional?

Rob Leach

Mica