03-23-2017, 03:50 PM
(03-23-2017, 01:26 PM)danbrotherston Wrote:(03-23-2017, 12:44 PM)tomh009 Wrote: That part is controlled by each city or region, nothing the federal government can dictate. The city/region can also change the 50% target to 40% or 60%, independent of the federal government. So the local funding level is really separate from the federal subsidy, and it really doesn't make the federal subsidy model "work" or "not work".
But it could control it by providing a direct tax subsidy for buying transit passes, like was already happening. Changing it to be a refundable subsidy, that applied to tickets as well, for example would have made it have broader applications. In that case, the region/city cannot take that income and apply to to the general revenues.
The region/city can still reduce (or increase) the money it spends on transit, independent of the form any subsidy. The really is no constraint on the city or region, unless the federal government were to specify a minimum (local) transit subsidy level in order to qualify for the federal subsidy. And that minimum could apply to any form of subsidy directly provided to the local government.