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Public Transit Ridership in the United States

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[quote user="CSSHEGEWISCH"] As mentioned in a prior post, going to means-based subsidy of mass transit, be it either for city transit or suburban rail, would involve additional administrative expense and would also be a legal and political nightmare.  It's difficult to envision middle-class suburbanites submitting paperwork similar to college financial-aid forms to determine the cost of the ride to work without complaining to their local politicians about invasion of privacy, too much government, etc. [/quote] Means testing would not be an administrative nightmare; it might be a political nightmare. I have a senior pass on DART.  It took about a minute to obtain it.  I had to verify my age. My Medicare Part B premiums are means tested. The Social Security Administration gets my MAGI from the IRS and uses it to calculate my Medicare Part B premium.  I don't like paying a higher Medicare Part B premium for a variety of reasons, but an invasion of my privacy is not one of them. If invasion of privacy is a key concern, folks need to take on the entire tax system. I am talking about means testing commuter rail.  I am not talking about means testing in-town transit.  Given the horsepower of today's computers, with linked data bases, verifying a person's income could be done in a flash. How powerful are today's computers?  The IRS has all the information it needs to complete 75 to 80 per cent of the personal income tax returns.  It could, based on the information that it receives from employers, banks, investment houses, etc., complete the returns; mail them for verification or correction, and be done with it.  Why don't they do it, especially in light of the fact that California is doing it on a limited basis.  Primarily because the companies that peddle tax preparation software (Intuit, H&R Block, etc.) surely don't want it to happen for obvious reasons.  And they have been successful in lobbying the Congress to prevent the IRS from leaping into the 21st Century.
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