Slog
News & ArtsFriday, February 24, 2012
Olympia Finally, Some Urban Archipelago Budgeting
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Feb 24, 2012 at 1:33 PM
- Published November 4, 2004
Another way to talk about the house Democrats' budget proposal is to say this:
Finally, more than seven years after the publication of The Stranger's Urban Archipelago manifesto, here is a budget proposal from Olympia that picks up the spirit of that manifesto and says "Fuck you" to conservative rural voters who slurp up state services (paid for mostly by urban tax dollars) while simultaneously saying they want smaller government (hypocrites) and voting against the interests of urban tax payers (on issues ranging from gay rights to women's health care).
Back in November of 2004, the editors of The Stranger wrote:
Laws limiting taxes have a disproportionate impact on cities, which rely on local levies to pay for basic social and human services like domestic-violence programs, low-income housing, and tenant advocacy. If you're wondering why the city is suffering draconian budget cuts—$24 million this year, $20 million in 2005—you can thank rural voters who seem unable to grasp a basic Christian tenet; greed is bad, sharing is good.
Now, in February of 2012, people like House Ways and Means Committee member Reuven Carlyle (D-36) are proposing a budget that would give cities and counties more freedom to raise taxes to fund social services, with Carlyle himself saying it's time to call the bluff of "those who pretend like it’s possible to sustain what you could call King County-level services in places where there’s a dependency on a massive infusion of state dollars to accomplish that goal."
Translation: "To the rural voters, residents of small, dying towns, and soulless sprawling exburbs, we say this: Fuck off. Your issues are no longer our issues." (And funding your government handouts is no longer our problem; it's your problem. Best of luck.)
One problem for this strategy: It's likely going to be Democrats in the state senate—like Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown—who strip this proposal out of the final budget.
1
i just have to say, as someone completely sympathetic to this issue and fixing problems related to inequities in service funding, your rhetoric makes me ill. who do you think you will convince by writing this? what is your point? that you are right and everyone else should just "fuck off"? but seriously, how do you expect to win the argument?
systems will never get fixed this way.
systems will never get fixed this way.
2
This is a terrible idea.
None of the city tax proposals are going to actually hit the people who need to be hit. Seattle can't raise taxes on Medina, and the kinds of taxes that cities can raise are usually regressive. You think Seattle's going to pass an income tax on itself? Good luck with that.
The fact is, the state is a unified whole. Saying "fuck you" to the rural voters, etc., is saying "fuck you" to the poor, which is not a progressive victory. It's a yuppie victory.
None of the city tax proposals are going to actually hit the people who need to be hit. Seattle can't raise taxes on Medina, and the kinds of taxes that cities can raise are usually regressive. You think Seattle's going to pass an income tax on itself? Good luck with that.
The fact is, the state is a unified whole. Saying "fuck you" to the rural voters, etc., is saying "fuck you" to the poor, which is not a progressive victory. It's a yuppie victory.
6
While I think Fnarf is right (unfortunately - no easy solutions), the more "rural" (ahem) elements of the state have been saying "Fuck you" to us city folk for YEARS and trying to control our social mores. And a lot of them haven't been very nice about it. A few "Fuck offs" tossed their way is a mild response.
7
I have to agree with 1 for the most part. As much as I agree with the sentiment of the post escalating the Us v. Them attitude is unhelpful.
That said, I think WA residents should start a letter writing campaign to support the proposal to allow cities and counties to raise their own taxes to counter state budget cuts. It's sensible on it's own merits (why should King County allow rural government haters to shut down their schools?) and it's the only way they're going to ever learn the value they derive from government.
...plus, fuck conservatives.
That said, I think WA residents should start a letter writing campaign to support the proposal to allow cities and counties to raise their own taxes to counter state budget cuts. It's sensible on it's own merits (why should King County allow rural government haters to shut down their schools?) and it's the only way they're going to ever learn the value they derive from government.
...plus, fuck conservatives.
8
Being afraid of hicks doesn't justify apathy toward rural communities. Asking Ritzville to get excited about helping fund and urban tenant-advocacy group is about as likely as Seattle growing its own food.
9
@1:
That's the problem with liberals in a nutshell: we're just too damned nice to the people who suck our wallets dry on the one hand, while feeling they have the right to dictate their morality to us on the other. In short: the "fuck off" argument seems to be pretty effective when it's rural conservatives giving urban progressives the finger, so why NOT pour a little sauce on their goose for a change?
That's the problem with liberals in a nutshell: we're just too damned nice to the people who suck our wallets dry on the one hand, while feeling they have the right to dictate their morality to us on the other. In short: the "fuck off" argument seems to be pretty effective when it's rural conservatives giving urban progressives the finger, so why NOT pour a little sauce on their goose for a change?
10
God, Seattleites are so passive ... Hell, just do what Fnarf says and Lie Back And Think Of English Footballers.
11
Wow.
Way to stoop to the level of the worst teabaggy agitators and turn reasonable state spending allocation into a completely needless social war, Eli. Haha, you're right! There are some ignorant and envious people in far-flung places with bad schools and no opportunity. WE BETTER GO AHEAD AND BE LIKE THEM.
No, wait, you're being a prick. Reapportioning revenue away from them is quite enough of a "fuck off" without this kind of damaging rhetoric, and even THAT is likely to just leave rural people poorer and angrier.
Way to stoop to the level of the worst teabaggy agitators and turn reasonable state spending allocation into a completely needless social war, Eli. Haha, you're right! There are some ignorant and envious people in far-flung places with bad schools and no opportunity. WE BETTER GO AHEAD AND BE LIKE THEM.
No, wait, you're being a prick. Reapportioning revenue away from them is quite enough of a "fuck off" without this kind of damaging rhetoric, and even THAT is likely to just leave rural people poorer and angrier.
12
Rural residents are still going to be suckling from the government's teat. If you think individual state legislators and Congressional representatives are going to leave their constituents dangling in the wind, you have another thing coming.
The only difference this proposal will make will be in allowing urbanites to tax ourselves more while we're still paying through the nose to fund rural Washington. And, as Fnarf notes, we'll be taxing the poor, not the rich.
The only difference this proposal will make will be in allowing urbanites to tax ourselves more while we're still paying through the nose to fund rural Washington. And, as Fnarf notes, we'll be taxing the poor, not the rich.
13
Also, the cities offer way more in social services, both public and private, than small towns. When the legislature slashes social service spending, where do you think the "dumb hicks" are going to go? We're still going to be paying to take care of them.
14
We just need to have a statewide vote on taxes raised from a county having to be spent only in that county. Just remind the rurals that this means none of their tax dollars will support negros in the city and let them vote their conscience.
15
One sentiment from the East side of the mountains - alas, from my hometown paper:
http://www.omakchronicle.com/archives/db…
Is it too smug, liberal, and elitist to point out that the editor of the paper didn't know the difference between succession and secession?
http://www.omakchronicle.com/archives/db…
Is it too smug, liberal, and elitist to point out that the editor of the paper didn't know the difference between succession and secession?
16
City slickers charge more and pay themselves more.
It's only appropriate that taxes be apportioned at a more local level.
In that sense, SLOG should welcome all Federal and State budget cuts as it releases money that cities are welcome to levy on their residents as desired.
Rather than being a bunch of sore winners. Go ahead, raise your taxes. I DARE you.
17
Even the reddest county in the state has 25% Democratic voters. I'm not inclined to just say fuck you to those folks, some of whom work their asses off trying to bring about change.
18
I'm much more interested in keeping Seattle and King County tax dollars here than I am in raising my own taxes. Seattle can afford to put the viaduct into a tunnel all by ourselves. We could tell the state we don't need their contribution if we had control over the taxes raised in Seattle to begin with. But we can't pay for that at the same time our tax dollars are siphoned off to widen a freeway for Hanford commuters.
19
When is Will in Seattle going to pop in here and tell us that parts of states secede from the rest "all the time"?
20
Bailo: I would happily pay a 10% City of Seattle income tax, if it meant that Seattle could do all the awesome things we've always wanted to do (like build the Seattle Subway). But state law prohibits us from doing so. There are only a very select number of taxes that cities are allowed to levy, and Seattle has maxed out most of them.
Federal and state tax cuts, when they aren't paired with new local revenue options, just make everyone worse off.
At the end of the day, Geni and everyone else is right: we're all in this together. I don't sleep better at night knowing that rural hicks are getting screwed. (If nothing else, remember that those rural hicks might have kids, and those kids might get the hell out of Dodge someday if only they have food and education and a state that protects their parents from abusing them for being gay.) But if the rest of the state steadfastly refuses to support the revenue needed to even maintain current levels of service, then by golly, let's at least do what we can to keep Seattle from failing too.
Federal and state tax cuts, when they aren't paired with new local revenue options, just make everyone worse off.
At the end of the day, Geni and everyone else is right: we're all in this together. I don't sleep better at night knowing that rural hicks are getting screwed. (If nothing else, remember that those rural hicks might have kids, and those kids might get the hell out of Dodge someday if only they have food and education and a state that protects their parents from abusing them for being gay.) But if the rest of the state steadfastly refuses to support the revenue needed to even maintain current levels of service, then by golly, let's at least do what we can to keep Seattle from failing too.
21
Wowsers. "Fuck you" to rural voters? As a proud Seattleite who hails from very rural Washington back-country, this entire article comes across as incredibly misinformed and ignorant as to what and whom "rural Washington" is actually comprised of (hint: Georgetown is not rural). The author seems to have taken redderick lessons from the GOP in an attempt to lambaste a great number of voters using broad-sweeping, and inaccurate generalizations. We have enough radicals in the media spewing hate and making assess of themselves; we don't need the same polarizing treatment flying in from the other side. As far as accurate and ethical reporting goes, you have certainly dropped the ball.
22
The rednecks who run the rural cities and counties can afford to move to the three I-5 counties where all the money is raised, and they would. The poor people couldn't.
23
@20
How come select property taxes in Seattle were allowed to be raised for infrastructure (DBT) and transit projects then?
25
Does everybody who comes to work for the Stranger have to sign some kind of loyalty oath to this "urban archipelago" bullshit?
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