Sunshine Sentinel

Hillsborough County Commissioner Lesley Miller is prioritizing putting another "All for Transportation" $16 billion rail tax hike on the November ballot instead of helping constituents recover from the pandemic, claims the blog Eye On Tampa. 

Miller canceled an April 1st, 6:30 pm public hearing on the tax hike due to the coronavirus. But a day prior to the public hearing, he announced the commissioners would hold a special meeting to discuss when to reschedule the public hearing. 

After the special meeting, the Commissioners voted to not put the tax on the ballot. But Commissioner Mariella Smith rescinded that decision and scheduled another public hearing for May 4. 

The tax would give 40 percent of all tax proceeds, about $6.5 billion, to the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART). Smith is seeking to fund costly Tampa rail systems despite the fact that people were in lockdown due to the coronavirus and may not be comfortable using public transportation until an effective treatment or vaccine becomes available. 

In Hillsborough County, less than 2 percent of people used the transit system before the pandemic started, so attempting to give these people another tax burden to fund a costly system they will not use is "tone-deaf" behavior, said Eye On Tampa. 

The Eye On Tampa blog claims said that people are already struggling financially during the crisis, and a high regressive sale tax would further hurt small business owners.  

Commissioner Stacy White, who had filed a lawsuit on the constitutionality of the tax last year, did not respond to requests for comment.