To the editor:

I enthusiastically encourage all south county taxpayers to vote “no” on the Metro-Link tax increase — Prop A.

Surprisingly, I support most of the benefits given by proponents of this tax — reduced pollution, save gas, less traffic and accidents, decreased wear and tear on our streets, et cetera. What I can’t understand is why I am expected to pay for someone else’s transportation.

To take advantage of the “privilege to drive,” I must pay a state inspection fee, a state license plate fee, state driver’s license fee, yearly personal property tax on the vehicle, maintenance, proof of insurance, gas — which includes a hefty road tax — and, of course, the cost of the vehicle itself — which includes a 6-percent sales tax.

I worked long and hard to be able to afford this “privilege.”

So how can anyone justify that my work should go to benefit another?

If the MetroLink is so efficient, so beneficial and used by so many people, then why not simply increase the price of a ticket to actually cover the costs of operation?

Why should one group of people get a “free lunch” at a cost to the rest of us?

What little money I have left after taxes, I’d like to keep in my own pocket.

Jim Smoot

south county