Proposition 6 in California poses as a grassroots movement to repeal recently hiked and already high gas taxes when it is something else, too: a vote against the future. It would roll back the gas tax and vehicle fees passed by state lawmakers that kicked in last November, creating a $5-billion-a-year funding stream for bridges, roadwork and transit. The proposition also would limit the use of remaining gas taxes to road work and starve the state's highspeed rail project of funds, likely killing it. Behind the proposition is the idea that most gas-tax money is siphoned off to high-paid government employees and that Cali-fornians in their cars are better off than Californians with a regionally planned mass transportation infrastructure, and drivers shouldn't have to pay for one. The proposition's advocates claim the state's department of transportation has 3,700 employees not assigned to specific projects.
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