Why I won’t be voting in favor of any higher taxes in Seattle

[littlebrowndog]

I’m a very left leaning individual. I have spent my entire life working in programs that support people in recovery from mental health and substance use conditions. Many of the multiple hundreds of people I have trained around the country were at one point homeless. I think I walk my talk.

I am also now in my mid 60s. I am the primary source of income in my household as my husband is a disabled veteran with ever increasing major health issues requiring me to spend more and more time as his caregiver and less and less time working. We have very carefully planned our financial future, not a luxurious one but an adequate one that includes our one bedroom 870sf home. But more and more taxes are being piled on, through property taxes, sales taxes, license tab fees. I have already been cautious about supporting requests for more taxes as not only do they make it harder and harder for people on fixed incomes to survive but also because, being in the social services field, I have seen far too much money squandered on projects that are not evidence based and don’t get results. And our transportation and infrastructure projects…this is, for the umpteenth time, documentation of the gross malfeasance as well as the public’s foolishness. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/12-million-per-mile-for-a-bike-lane-that-should-trigger-a-civic-heart-attack/

So don’t expect an affirmative vote from me for one single more increase in my taxes regardless of how the cause tugs at my heartstrings. I cannot afford it, and I am outraged by the lies and incompetence our current taxes are funding. Oh, and let’s not forget that the perpetrators of these frauds face no consequences. Sorry, education, homelessness, mental health and substance use, infrastructure, the environment…I will continue to personally do my part as an individual but never again will I vote in favor of paying more taxes.

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[Vanessa]

Here, here, Little Brown Dog. I am in complete agreement with you. As a small business owner, and a home owner, and a person who cannot ride my bike across King County to do my business, I am tired and peeved that every solution to every problem is to tax us MORE. I am beyond belief to what the housing market is like here, and the sinful way we are penalized for existence here makes me nearly sick.

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[T Rex]

The push for socialism is starting people. Pay attention, there is going to be a test. Eventually all of the younger ones will simply say yes to everything the government says and trust that they are doing the right thing. I will be long gone by the time this happens but George Orwell was correct, he was just a little off on the decade.

Big brother is already watching.

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[JayDee]

Washington State has the most regressive tax regime in the United States. <https://itep.org/whopays/#The%2010%20Most%20Regressive%20State%20&%20Local%20Tax%20Systems&gt;
And having just made my 2018 25% increase in property tax, I am pretty sympathetic little brown dog–I am still working but I didn’t get a 25% raise.

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[JoB]

i agree that this is hitting people on limited incomes hard..
but if we don’t invest in education we won’t be spending our retirements in the kind of community we sacrificed to live in

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[Michael Waldo]

How do you know the money will be spent improving education. Have you read the news in the last couple of weeks?
Mayor halts street car work as it is way over budget. Transportation levee we passed is not giving us the service we voted for. Bike lanes costing millions a mile. Road and sidewalk levee we passed won’t be fixing the roads or creating sidewalks that we voted for. We need to quit electing social justice one note politicians and start voting for people who have some kind of management experience and know how to run a city. I will not vote for any tax increase of any kind until our city government figures out how to estimate a job and actually complete it. No one is being held accountable for all of these millions of our dollars being flushed down the toilet.

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[T Rex]

Well Amazon just gave the city council the finger big time, let’s see what happens now. Even if we all vote no, they will still find a way to make another attempt to tax us on something else.

Like oxygen.

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[JoB]

what i know is that if we don’t fund it education won’t get money..
the state legislature would rather pay fines for contempt of court that meet the legal funding requirements for education.
underfunded schools = uneducated citizens = untrained workers .. and all of that means that we will suffer.

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[JoB]

t rex
no surprises here.
i am not a big fan of Bezos..
he doesn’t not pay his people well and does everything he can to avoid paying taxes for the services his underpaid workers consume.

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[Michael Waldo]

Pronto bike sharing- city sold it after losing money. Taxed to fix roads and sidewalks – now say that can’t do what they promised – not enough money. 1St ave street car – on hold for being millions over budget. Move Seattle tax to add bus service- not going to do what was promised. Not enough buses or drivers. last year a consultant the city hired to audit our homeless services criticized our efforts. She said we are giving out 100 million a year to 50 different organizations with no requirement that they show results! So I too don’t trust the city council to spend the money wisely.

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[JoB]

Michael Waldo
you will get no arguments from me about accountability.. but even though i didn’t vote for this Mayor penalizing her efforts because of the lack of accountability of the last isn’t productive

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[waynster]

new rules for Sunday (tomorrow) hehehehe……
http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2018/04/22

for the kid in us hehehehe….
http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2018/4/15

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[JoB]

waynser
nailed it.. again ;-)

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[TanDL]

https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ballard-to-recall-mike-obrien-from-seattle-city

Perhaps it’s time to take action to try to get their attention. They who have blithely turned this city over to developers without any thought of infrastructure or the needs of citizens should start listening to we working folks who have lived here and supported this city for years. Not just picking on Mike O’Brien – this is the only one I found. I would sign to recall a bunch of City Council members, just to get their attention!

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