NEWS RELEASE

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Oct. 24, 2006
Contact: Ed Frank or Annie Patnaude, (703) 408-0572 or (202) 441-5193

“Taxpayer Trust Tour” Stops in Larkspur  
Citizen Group Highlights Tax Dollars Squandered on SMART

LARKSPUR – As Californians face several statewide ballot initiatives that would hike taxes and authorize additional taxpayer debt, Americans for Prosperity, in collaboration with the California-based Reason Foundation and the Pacific Research Institute, brought the “Taxpayer Trust Tour” to Larkspur to highlight $100 million in tax dollars authorized to be squandered on the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) project. The seven-city road Tour, which was launched in Sacramento on Monday, has the goal of raising awareness about wasteful spending and mismanagement in state government.

The SMART transit project, which is estimated to cost taxpayers $1.4 billion over 20 years, is expected to carry 4,800 passengers a day and just 230 commuters during peak hours. The taxpayer subsidy per rider per trip could easily reach $60.

“Before taxpayers authorize higher taxes and more debt they should consider how lawmakers have chosen to spend the tax dollars citizens have already entrusted to them,” said Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips. “Our point is quite simply that the SMART transit project is not a smart use of hard-earned tax dollars. Politicians have violated taxpayers’ trust by funding this project.”

This November, California taxpayers will consider a variety of ballot propositions that would hike cigarette taxes from 87 cents to $3.47 (the nation’s highest rate), increase taxes on California-produced oil, levy a statewide property tax on homeowners and impose new taxes on many employers. Americans for Prosperity is calling on citizens to consider the irresponsible way the state has managed the tax dollars it already has, before approving higher taxes or more debt. 

“Out-of-control state spending is burying Californians in new and higher taxes and piling up mountains of state debt,” said Americans for Prosperity President Tim Phillips. “California’s taxpayers should know just how much of their hard-earned money is wasted in Sacramento before they agree to fork over one additional dollar. That’s what we hope to accomplish with this Taxpayer Trust Tour – to simply show California taxpayers how their money is being wasted.”

Larkspur is the second stop on the statewide “Taxpayer Trust Tour.” In total, the Tour will highlight seven examples of wasteful state spending and fiscal mismanagement, including stops in Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, Malibu, and Orange County, before concluding in San Diego on Thursday, Oct. 26. A full schedule can be found online at www.AmericansForProsperity.com.    

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is a nationwide organization of citizen leaders committed to advancing every individual’s right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP believes reducing the size and scope of government is the best safeguard to ensuring individual productivity and prosperity for all Americans. AFP educates and engages citizens in support of restraining state and federal government growth, and returning government to its constitutional limits. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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