ST3 - car tabs and other taxes (Seattle, Steilacoom: 2014, car registration)

[Botev1912]

Traffic is a mess and gets worse every day, and people still think a rail system shouldn't be built... It's another problem where all the tax money goes.

[wutitiz]

An interesting factoid (or at least a claim) is that ST3 will end up costing $150 billion if you include interest, which after all must be paid by the taxpayer.
ST3 won't help South Sound - vote it down | The News Tribune

Sound Transit can and will bond all $54 billion, which with interest has an actual taxpayer payoff well over $150 billion. The tax collection for ST3 never ends and never has to come back to the voters

The authors of this op-ed are the Pierce County Assessor and the Steilacoom Mayor. I haven't seen this mentioned elsewhere. This is a gargantuan figure for a regional project. Given this, it seems unlikely that it will be possible to get rid of the new sky-high car tabs.


I think the only option for those who don't like it is going to be: vote w/ your feet, and move out of the ST taxing district.

[mhays25]

Yes please, vote with your feet. One reason we pass smart things around here is that people self-select where they want to live.

As for the larger cost figure, do you talk about your house price with interest added?

[thatguy950]

Originally Posted by mhays25

Yes please, vote with your feet. One reason we pass smart things around here is that people self-select where they want to live.

As for the larger cost figure, do you talk about your house price with interest added?

Smart things? You mean like 594, ST3, and this?





I guess it's easy to vote for garbage with other people's money

[mhays25]

Pretty sure I didn't say everything we vote for is smart. Sawant is a moron.

[CrazyDonkey]

Originally Posted by wutitiz

An interesting factoid (or at least a claim) is that ST3 will end up costing $150 billion if you include interest, which after all must be paid by the taxpayer.
ST3 won't help South Sound - vote it down | The News Tribune

Care to provide a source for the $150 billion claim, showing the methodology through which it is derived, other than the bald (unsourced) claim made in the linked article? Despite extensive searches, I wasn't able to find any other source making this or any similar claim.

It makes a huge difference whether reporting YOE (Year-of-Expenditure) dollars, which is standard, rather than current dollars, in that the purchasing power of the dollar declines over time. Throwing out interest claims without accounting for inflation is sophistic at best, fraudulent at worst.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Originally Posted by quanva

I'll never take sound transit and I don't understand why the cost is being pushed on to drivers instead of some general tax so everyone pays their fair share

There's really no us/them divide. Seattle is not Manhattan--most of the Sound Transit riders are also drivers, or live in households that have cars. Drivers voted for this because they wanted more and better alternatives, even if it is just for their work commutes. And they pay their fares on top of the taxes, too. Also, many local bus riders primarily use the King County Metro bus system not Sound Transit express busses or trains, and yet they still pay Sound Transit taxes. Those who don't have cars, of course, still pay the same sales and (indirectly) property taxes for maintaining the road system, which they still depend on don't use as extensively. Just remember most transit riders are fewer cars on the road in front of you and/or taking your parking spot because they are people who could drive or take Uber. So in the end everyone is paying their share for both transit and roads--it's really unavoidable. Nevertheless, to make it more equitable, the car taxes should really have an annual miles driven component not just based on the value of the car, and the depreciation schedule should be fixed.

[hurricaneMan1992]

Originally Posted by CrazyDonkey

Personally, I have a problem with property owners whose homes are gaining value at 15%+ a year claiming they're being overtaxed because their taxes have gone up a few hundred dollars a year. I am in favor of rebates, discounts, and exemptions to reduce the burden on fixed-income seniors, the disabled, lower-income individuals/couples, and middle-income families.

This. People on Social Security with fixed incomes, ect.

[MontanaOnMyMind]

ST3 is very, very expensive unfortunately. It was a huge ask, but voters went for it.

[Rombus]

Originally Posted by hurricaneMan1992

This. People on Social Security with fixed incomes, ect.

Social Security is adjusted for the cost of living. So it is not fixed income. It is also not a lot of money to live on, especially in this area.