the city keeps adding on fees and taxes. once the city gets this fee the city will use it to supplant general fund money; ie keep reducing what should be a basic city service funded by the general fund, maintaining the streets
people who have sidewalks paid for them in higher home cost as the builder passes on the expense. those that don't have them need to form an LID and pay for their sidewalks like most homeowners in the city have.
could you please show me proof that the city would misuse this particular fee? It hasn't even been decided yet..how would you possibly know that it would be misspent? Pure speculation...by someone who simply doesn't want to pay it..
miws
Member Profile
could you please show me proof that the city would misuse this particular fee?
But of course.......
.
.
.
.......not!
Mike
i have documented in the past that the City of Seattle spends way more than other City's in the area per capita on Social Services; in essence taking money away from basic City maintenance.
i never said they would misuse the fee i insinuated that they would use the fee to supplant the street fund (that is take money already dedicated to street maintenance and move it to another City function if the fee passes).
redblack
Member Profile
bah. everyone complains and whines about %MVET, so let's just have a flat car tab fee in seattle of $120 per year. $150 - $200 for business/commercial registration, and on vehicles over 5,000 lbs GVW. (yes, i'd like to tax your tahoe more than a prius - it's harder on the roads.)
i drive an old sedan
I wish there were a way we could tax whining about taxes.
i wish we would stop spending on social services to the able bodied and minded
"I wish there were a way we could tax whining about taxes"
thanks for the good laugh
But I too wish "we" could spend "our" money more wisely. Isn't there a giant RESET button somewhere we can push?
'But I too wish "we" could spend "our" money more wisely.'
Taxes and revenue are at an all-time low. It's hard to spend wisely when there's nothing to spend.
sam-c
Member Profile
it is frustrating in some ways- I support the city in their effort to get revenue so they can do their job- adding to the car tab is one way. I always vote for levies that I think are necessary to keep things moving forward. on the other hand, the way they use the money when you give it to them....using Bridging the Gap money to plant trees, build bio-swales for drainage, when there are streets on designated walking routes to school with no sidewalks, streets riddled with potholes that are re-filled every couple of weeks....
the parks and green Spaces levy- they approve projects and the funds for them, and then they throw a wrench in it all with their processes...
yes you can write them and tell them what you think they should do with all the money you give them but that doesn't really get you anywhere. oh well.
"An $80 annual car-tab fee would generate about $27 million annually. The city Department of Transportation says it has a $1.8 billion backlog of work."
Thats really going to help. I think it is more about what they do with the revenues, not so much the shortfall in revenues.
In a state such as ours with no income tax, the only way to meet revenue needs is to add fees and increase homeowners/sales/gas taxes (and others). Which is the LEAST progressive form of taxation. People moan every time these fees/taxes go up, but they forget this point. Revenue has to come from somewhere. We'd be much better off with an income tax, and lower taxes/fees of these sorts.
Correct kbooms. As I've pointed out recently on another thread, tired of the middle- and working-class in our Nation getting nickle-and-dimed to death with taxes and fees for services? Call YOUR elected representative and DEMAND they start taxing THE ONLY SEGMENT OF OUR SOCIETY WHO HAVE SEEN THEIR REAL INCOMES AND STANDARD OF LIVING RISE OVER THAE LAST 30+ YEARS, so we ALL pay for the commons we ALL use and derive benefits from (though, proveably, corporations and the wealthy use them more, and derive greater benefit from OUR commons).
Think about it, if I want to HIKE in our Nation's forests, I need to pay an extra fee to park at the trailhead, but if I want to CUT DOWN our Nation's forests, OUR tax dollars will build roads for my corporation, and when I'm done clearcutting all that wood and sending it, raw, overseas to be milled by my offshore shell corporation, OUR tax dollars are used to decommission those roads, and mitigate the environmental damage that my basically untaxed corporation created.
THAT'S fair!!??!!
Third-world nations ship their raw wealth overseas and import finished products.
THAT is the society the conservatives envision for America. They've almost succeeded.
Plunder
The mayor wants another $80 over the newly enacted county tax...he says for bicycle and pedestrians... seems about time to license bicycles... other cities do it. Next, a Seattle tax ... $2 for every pair of shoes... the women will love that one!
NY has taxed vehicles based on weight for years. Seems smart to me.
kootch..
if a $2 tax on every pair of shoes would ensure safe crosswalks, i'd pay it in a heartbeat...
one of the reasons i can't walk where i would like to is that i can't play dodgem with cars in the crosswalks any more.
It took the city 15 years.... but we got our crosswalks this week...well, at least the handicap ramp portions...and the sidewalk tie-ins... no traffic stripping yet.. I must say... being in the concrete biz.... they did some impressive work!
you got yours...
i watched an older disabled man try to play dodgem crossing 35th near the retirement homes the other night.
3 lanes of traffic eventually stopped and the fourth still doing 50 with the man in a clearly marked crosswalk :(
Hurray! The City Council just UNANIMOUSLY voted to support sending a $60 car tab fee to the voters in November, about 1/3 for road repair, and the rest for safety and transit improvements. I think that unanimity speaks volumes.
If they make car owners pony up an extra $40, $60, $80 to help fund metro, they should give us metro vouchers in the same $ amount. That way car owners don't feel like they are being taken advantage of and may inspire more drivers to pick up a bus every now and then.
shed22
wouldn't you say car owners get a huge benefit when increased ridership equals less cars on the road?
JoB . . . I would much prefer fewer cars on the road. In fact, I would prefer to be the ONLY car on the road.
I didn't realize the City Car Tab fee was to go to much needed roadwork. For some reason, I thought it was to help pay for a Metro shortfall.
If it WERE to pay for Metro services, then I think a voucher program would help accomplish a number of things. Among them, it might inspire more car drivers to try Metro.
TheHouse
Member Profile
EVERYONE SHOULD OPPOSE THIS TAB FEE. It is simply another way to tax drivers unnecessarily. Hooper1961 is correct that this money will be squandered and if you want proof of how government wastes our money, I could inundate your inbox.
Even if you don't own a car, you'll be impacted. Taxi cabs, tow trucks, etc have to purchase tabs. Companies don't eat costs, they pass the cost onto their customers by charging more (same concept on property tax increases).
Here is the latest and greatest, though.
Jiggers
Member Profile
How do you improve the roads with no monies?
austin
Member Profile
With prayer.
Jiggers
Member Profile
You guys want everything for nothing!
I want the funding to be used properly with planning and foresight. Government spending is wasteful and no one is held responsible. We wouldn't have such a budget crisis if the government didn't waste tax payer dollars.
Define "budget crisis."
odroku: asking tax payers for more money.
shed22 -- thanks for the laughs, altho I know you weren't meaning to be funny. I love it when someone makes those kind of global statements about the government, as the alternative is called 'privitization' where you pay for everything as you go. Republicans love privitization cuz they know it is a way to make a boatload of money for themselves and their wealthiest friends by charging the average citizen for everything they do in their lives. Imagine: toll roads. toll sewers. toll electricity. toll parks. toll drinking water (think Starbucks.) toll air. toll police and firefighters. toll schools.
One of the reasons government has taken on providing so many services is that private companies have either failed so spectacularly or charged so much for services that no one could afford them (ever heard of a 'company town'?) Read the early history of pretty much anything in Seattle (historylink.org is a great place to start) and you'll see why bus and rail transportation in the area is 'public' and not 'private.'
If you think government can screw up, try private industry. Try complaining to Microsoft or Comcast. Now think about complaining to some company that *really* doesn't care because you are a captive audience. You can't vote them out of office, you can't send them a letter because you will mysteriously start having 'service interruptions', you can't complain to your congressperson because, well, they own your congressperson and you can't do without their service (imagine, toll toilet flushing ...) What will you do ...
Metrognome I can't complain to Comcast...the city won't let other competing companies enter the market...who cares about service..the city government sure doesn't and Comcast? Why do better, they bought a monopoly. a government monopoly...and Comcast gives the city the requisite kickback. Shitty service and higher prices...Thank god for satellites! PRIVATE satellites that actually give better service than Comcast.
Jiggers
Member Profile
Reply to post #8. hooper.. What's your definition of able,bodied and mind? I'm curious if you're supposed to have a disability visual to the public's eye to qualify for those programs.
The reason government takes on so many things? Because it likes to grow big. Very big. They do toll us for everything, it is called taxes. Why don't we have the lowest cost garbage collection? It's not because WM charges so much... it's because the city takes off the top. You can be sure if it is a private service, and it is your only option... the city takes the low bid...and then...tells WM how much to tag on to the bill...the proverbial city "kickback"... How will the city "misuse it" beats me..it's always a surprise how ingenious they are..but they will think of a way...you can bet on that!
Welcome to a horror film near you
THE CITY
THE COUNTY
THE STATE
THE FEDS
so many choices to distract you while big business puts it's mits on your pocketbook...
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