Someday we’ll compile a list of all the euphemisms for “tax.” When we do, the contribution of Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) will be “dedicated funding source.”
That’s what he calls his new tax proposal designed to pump money into Washington DC's subway. The bill is H.R. 4396, and if he can get it through, the federal government will pump $1.5 billion into the watery tunnels of DC’s Metro. See the Congressional Budget Office's report.
If Davis's project were just normal pork, taxpayers all over the country would pay for the local project – a huge slab of pork even by the recent obscene standards -- and locals would pay nothing. But this is no normal pork project – this one requires a local match.
As a result, Davis is essentially trying to pay Virginia and Maryland and the District to raise $1.5 billion in new local taxes that he will “dedicate” to Metro.
All the local representatives have signed on to this “dedicated funding source” (without calling it a tax): Rep. Benjamin Cardin (D-MD); Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD); Rep. James Moran (D-VA); Del. Eleanor Norton (D-DC); Rep. Christopher Van Hollen (D-MD); Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA); and Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD).
