Kelly Drops Commuter Tax Effort; Norton Told Mayor It Was Poor Strategy
D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly yesterday abandoned her plan to ask Congress for a commuter tax, saying that Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and other city officials convinced her that the idea was poor political strategy.</br></br>After two weeks of high-profile politicking for a commuter tax, Kelly said she was dropping the proposal because even her allies had expressed deep reservations. District officials conceded that the proposal, which sparked instantaneous opposition in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, had virtually no chance of passing.</br></br>Kelly's decision, which she revealed in response to questions from a reporter, ends a rare public dispute between her and Norton, who argued that the commuter tax proposal would succeed only in rallying opposition to the District on Capitol Hill.</br></br>The decision also eliminates a potential source of revenue that Kelly had hoped to apply to a two-year budget deficit estimated at $1 billion. Kelly never specified what kind of commuter tax she wanted, but she has said that the city is sacrificing more than $1 billion a year by not having one. Independent analysts say most forms of a commuter tax would produce far less than that.</br></br>"I promised Eleanor I would back off my decolonization agenda," Kelly said yesterday at a breakfast the District put on for newly elected House members. She said she would allow Norton to focus instead on a proposal for D.C. statehood, which she called "a much more attractive arrangement."