Another scam featuring K-12 education as the unwitting pawn. How nice. Make the blue counties pay for the red counties' schooling, meanwhile the blue counties pay more AND will probably end up with the bulk of the money-draining charter schools that the red counties seem to want to vote in. Lose-lose. Robby-boy wants to reward his red buddies and get revenge on the blue counties for voting Dem?

In other words, property-rich Blue counties will continue to subsidize property-poor Red counties to their own detriment, while Red county citizens will also no doubt continue to complain about how teh Big Bad Gubbamint is wastin' they tax dollahs.

Same As It Ever Was...

This is exactly the kind of asset taxation we need.

The biggest cheats are the urban dwellers who are paying no where near fair use value.

It's time that someone normalizes things without the retrogressive income or sales taxes that Democrat Gregoire wants.

StuckInUtah, you got that shit right. This is a scam from Tea Party Republican Rob McKenna. I want my tax dollars staying in Seattle and King County. I don't want wealth redistribution from my county to these Republicans in Eastern Washington, who spew hate upon us. If we have education and school problems in our city, we'll fix it locally. Get your paws off our property taxes, damn moocher Tea Party Republicans! You fund your schools your way, and we'll fund ours our way. Isn't that what you all preach - or is that all just fancy talk as you steal the hard-working money from us liberals? We have more than enough charities and causes to donate our money to, that actually support our progressive values. Jay Inslee, Bob Ferguson, Kathleen Drew, Troy Kelley, Brad Owen - you got my vote! GET OUT THE VOTE to stop Republican take-over.

@3 Honestly... who are you, and who do you work for? You're almost bot-like in your automated response.

It is AGRICULTURAL LAND OWNERS who enjoy low-low assessments due to "fair use value," not homeowners here in Seattle. That's what makes so many rural districts "property poor." They've got plenty of valuable property, it's just assessed artificially low.

But I'm guessing you know that from your choice of words, and just revel in spewing the opposite of reality.

If Inslee loses this election it will be because he hitched his wagon to this Property Tax Swap issue, which nobody understands. What people DO understand is that Rob McKenna wants to kill the Affordable Care Act, is anti-gay marriage, is anti-choice and doesn't give a shit about the environment.

@6 If people in King County understand that McKenna's education plan will raise taxes here while actually cutting total K-12 spending, then McKenna loses big enough here to cost him the election.

But so far our press has failed to to explain this to voters. (Or refused. Your choices as whether to assign intent.)

Every politician maintains control by channeling funds from outside of his support base into people he thinks will keep him in power. When the people you are planning on keeping you in are few in number, you must drain resources for the many and offer them to this elite few in a kind of bribe. When your support base is very broad, you cannot offer a bribe large enough to matter to each individual constituent, so you offer public services instead. Here, McKenna is trying to do both-drain money from people who will not vote for him (Seattlites) and pour it into those who will, and then try to appease the Seattlites by funding K-12.

At this point, if people vote to elect Mitt Romney and Rob McKenna, then they completely fucking deserve what they get: a shithole banana republic based on plantation economics.

If you made money when W. Bush was president, you're gonna love the new regime. If you lost out, well, have yourself a second (and a third) helping.

What is this take-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor, redistribution-of-wealth, SOCIALIST bullshit?!?!!?!?!?!

Douchus, I am all for a safety net and having the really wealthy pay more to help the poor, just like Obama said. What I am NOT for is douchebag politicians like Rob McKenna claiming to be the low tax guy, attacking Inslee on it. But secretly, McKenna wants to siphon our precious tax-payers to Republicans in Eastern Washington to buy off votes. Just like asshole Paul Ryan that BEGS Obama for stimulus bucks for his district, saying how the stimulus created jobs, then turns around and attacks Obama for stimulus. And just like dickhead Mitt Romney that BEGS Congress for billions to bail out Olympics in Utah. Then slams Obama for helping states. That kind of bullshit hypocrisy just ain't cool anymore, dude.

We have plenty of families to help in Seattle and King County. If Republicans want to participate in the safety net legitimately, they can just shut up and vote for Jay Inslee and Democrats.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…

@5 Goldy, a.k.a. Hypocrite In Chief

How can you espouse tax theft from the middle class, yet refuse to pay fair value yourselves?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfjU3_XO…

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,

Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.

But when the taxman comes to the door,

Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,

#12, why don't you go join your fellow right wing nutjobs, who are furiously spewing hate in the Seattle Times comments section? Ask yourself this:
Do you secretly feel enraged when you see women, minorities, or people under the age of 40 getting all uppity about rights and speaking their mind? Do you wish we liberals in Seattle and King County (who by the way contribute to fucking HALF of this entire state's GDP. HALF!) would just shut up and sit on the sidelines as you take all our taxes and decide that they should be redirected to your God's chosen people? Do you think that you are actually helping your Grand Ole Vote-Suppression Party with your tea-bagger rants? If you said yes to any of the above, you may be suffering from Rush-Limbaugh-Ann-Coulter-itis. Seek help immediately.

"In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve."

But thanks for highlighting the flaws in the tax swap. It's a shame nobody but Inslee supporters and trolls will read it.

I still think we should take King, Pierce and Snohomish county and make our own state. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

FREE AT LAST FREE AT LAST!!