Mr. Jack Evans, Metro Board Chairman and DC Council Member
Washington, DC
Mr. Evans:
WTOP Radio today reports that, despite your admission that Metro has a budget gap to close, you oppose fare increases. You propose to close this budget gap by instead having more subsidies given to Metro by the federal government and by local governments.
In other words, you think it wrong that Metro’s costs be borne by its actual users, and think it right that these costs instead be borne by Metro’s non-users – namely, people whose tax bills will rise if their governments increase their subsidies to Metro.
Your proposal is economically dubious and ethically appalling.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Professor of Economics
and
Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism at the Mercatus Center
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030
