Democracy

Great quote reprinted today in Seattle's "alternative weekly" The Stranger:


"I'm not sure the business community wants to pay for a referendum campaign. We've already paid to elect legislators".


Stan Barer, co-chairman of shipping company SaltChuk. He is referring to the attempted passage of a gas tax, which the business community would prefer the legislature pass, thus avoiding voter approval.


KJS

Funny quotation, but why would these companies want a tax?

I am not 100% sure but I think that its all related to a giant hole in the state budget due to a couple anti-tax initiatives passed in the last few years. I think that the gas tax has been floated as a way to make up some of the deficit. If it goes through, then all drivers will contribute. I think the big corporations here are afraid that if it doesn't they may be asked to contribute more via corporate taxation. So they don't want the people to vote no, thus opening them up for more taxation by the state. Again, I have not followed it that closely so I could be off.


KJS

The gas tax would be earmarked for the transportation budget, not the state general fund. In the past few years we've voted in a reduction of vehicle licensing fees and a limit on how much the counties can raise property taxes (1% per year). Washington State is now looking at a budget deficit of over a billion dollars (The amount we used to have in reserve).


In 5 years, my property taxes went from $3000 to $4100. It's a real pisser having to write those checks. The value on my house in that time has jumped $135,000 (so I'm not bitching too loudly).


Also, I bought a new car in December 1998. The lisence tabs were $712, plus I paid 8.6% sales tax on $27,500. After passage of the car tab initiative, I paid $119 for tabs (the bill would have been $650 originally). The proponents of the car tab initiative want to bring tabs down to a flat $30 for everyone. The initiative made it so that people (like me) who drive fairly expensive cars got a huge break on their tabs. People who drive less expensive cars get less of a break, and people who drive beaters actually saw their lisence fees increase.


The politicians in our state have thrown up their hands and said "Fine, if you guys don't want to pay, then we'll have to start cutting back." They've started shutting down county parks in the area for the rest of the year. Residents of the neighborhoods that contain those parks have come forward and volunteered to maintain them, but the state says no, sorry, but we can't open ourselves up to that kind of liability.


We here in Washington have voted to increase teacher's pay and cut taxes on the same ballot. That always struck me as ridiculous. The teacher's haven't seen the increase yet, and the governor has got that up on the butcher block next. Maybe I shouldn't look down my nose at Florida anymore.

Do you know exactly why the business community is pressuring the legislature to pass the tax?


KJS

Your property taxes are high compared to here. Here it costs the same to register your car, no matter the value. 8.6 sales tax is sky-high. No wonder the taxpayers there have a lot of initiatives. $1 billion deficit means your state government is spending too much. We did a similar thing on property taxes, a 3% cap. Counties have a tough time, but I guess they should. Our schools are kind of hurting, but we have 3 Division I sports programs, so I think they get too much too. :-)


Get your sales tax down to 5% max. Keep the cars cheap. Get property taxes to where they would be around 2K with a 50% homestead exemption. Or just move. :-)

I looked around on the web and couldn't find anything definitive. The only thing I saw was this blurb about 1993. Apparently businesses took it on the chin that year. They claim that the state raised the B&O tax to get out of a financial mess. I'm guessing that they're getting behind the gas tax so that they don't wind up getting stuck again, but I'm not sure.

The car tab thing has always been a sore spot. Property taxes may have been, but I paid no attention to that until I bought my house. The sales tax varies from county to county, I think ours has jumped again. Back when the Mariners were threatening to leave town, we voted on whether or not to fund the new stadium. The measure lost by around 1000 votes, but the State Legislature and Seattle city council members got together and forced it down our throats anyway. I voted for it originally, but when they turned around and gave the big FU to the voters, I lost confidence. Oh yeah, here's how smart we are in Washington. There's no state income tax, so the state uses sales tax as its main source of income. The sales tax is not deductable. We get our money post tax and then it gets nailed again. If you bring up a state income tax here, there's always a roar of disapproval. It's idiotic.

It is totally inexcusable for a government to fund sports teams and stadia. I got to vote against Coors Field in Denver and enjoyed it even though my side lost. "It's just a penny on $10 and the tax goes away when the stadium is paid for..." they all said. Oh, except the tax is extended to pay for a new Mile High Stadium. And after that...

If x is the population of the United States and y is the degree of imbecility of the average American, then democracy is the theory that x times y is less than y.


- H. L. Mencken


Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.


- H. L. Mencken


Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.


- E. B. White


Some points to ponder.


-Zeno, From Greenland