Las Vegans don’t need a tax hike to pay for light rail

Clark County and Las Vegas are planning to improve the roads, especially Maryland Parkway, a long overdue change. A light-rail system on that street should help most of the population in that area and will cost $750 million. The question is, where will the money come from? Several ideas have been proposed, including raising the sales tax.

I suggest that the Metropolitan Police Department crack down on all the lawbreakers driving their cars without any respect to existing laws. The carpool lane on U.S. Highway 95 is a prime example. Instead of a carpool lane, most cars have only one occupant. It has become a speed lane and the name should be changed to reflect that. In addition to raising funds for road projects, it would also make our highways safer.

An easier way would to raise money would be to cite all the cars with just one license plate. The maximum fine for this offense is $1,000. Of course, that amount is pretty extreme. But obviously this would raise a lot of money that could be used toward the Maryland Parkway projects and others. Metro could hire people, (maybe seniors, homeless men and women who would like a job, etc.) or have volunteers go to all the public parking lots, ticket the cars and take photos to prove the vehicle was in violation.

Obviously, there’s money that can be collected without raising taxes on everyone.