Comments

1

tasty! Here's the rub with ST3 you cant possibly think that the majority of tri county residents that will never use mass transit would be on board with a 200%+ increase in tabs every year. ST# shot itself in the foot, now we reset and maybe get a more sensible tax structure going forward. This isn't the end of the world chill.

2

I heard that ST will be filling in the tunnels and selling off the rolling stock starting tomorrow.... Such is life.

3

The anti-976 crowd couldn't have run a poorer campaign. They should have made this about jobs. Without the car tab tax we won't have construction jobs to build transit or fix roads. Without infrastructure businesses will not be attracted to our state. After all the hand-wringing about Seattle's head tax, why wasn't this loss of jobs a concern?

6

Osama tim Eyman.

8

Human stain katie herzog needs to repeat f word to report on subject matter that majority of the state approved.

Thanks Tim! You just saved me at least a couple hundred bucks a year

9

I guess it is easier to blame and yell at one guy in a goofy shirt, who the public seems to support, than actually take your elected officials to task for their shitty stewardship of your shitty, regressive, and unsustainable funding policies.

But yeah, fuck that one guy I guess.

10

Seattle Transit should just stop maintaining all roads except bus and DOT lanes. If private drivers want roads to drive on, they'll need to pay taxes for them.

@4 Of course the People get a say in a Democracy. But it doesn't work in the long run if the People are a population of ignorant, self-serving sociopaths. Enjoy your desert planet, you've earned it! Democratically!

11

@3 -- I thought the No on 976 campaign was pretty good. Their ads focused on transportation in general (roads, bridges, etc.) as well as jobs. They may have failed to get out to enough communities -- and perhaps recruit well respected moderates to speak for them -- but the (TV) ads I saw were very good.

12

@4: "I almost fell out of my chair when I saw the vote results this morning."

Is that chair from Office Depot?

@3, to some extent the No campaign did make this about jobs. Could the campaign have been run better? Sure. They certainly could have kicked into gear sooner. But I seriously doubt even the perfectly run campaign could have defeated this initiative.

Without making any subjective judgment, in a way, Tim Eyman understands Americans almost as well as Donald Trump understands Americans.

13

I trust that someone will file a lawsuit, a judge will set it aside, and the court will find it unconstitutional.

The only other option is that the contractors lay off hundreds of people and collect the cancellation payments from the state. Probably millions of taxpayer dollars would be spent for absolutely nothing.

The population is too stupid and greedy to be trusted with the initiative process.

14

I hope the idiots who voted for this initiative bottom out their fancy, low-riding Lamborghinis driving through the slew of potholes that are bound to become more numerous.

15

@1 Yeah chucklehead, reset. Reset so that the people who should be paying for mass transit projects, drivers (and I am one), are off the hook. The definition of deplorable.

16

This is no surprise. Even before the first polling was done, you could expect this to pass. Partly it is this phenomenon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chMCU5VSuqw. People in this state have voted for more service AND lower taxes at the same election.

This is also an off-year election. Sound Transit now only holds transit votes in a general election year. That is because general elections trend progressive, followed by midterm elections, and finally off-year elections. In other words, the same initiative might fail in a year.

But mostly, people hate car tab taxes. It doesn't help that Sound Transit fucked up, and had a schedule that is weird (not basing car values on Blue Book). Most people wouldn't notice, but it sounds sneaky (even though it really isn't -- it is just weird). Then you have a tax on hybrid car owners to pay for electrical charging stations, even if their car doesn't plugin. That is a bullshit tax. Add it together and this should be no surprise.

It should also be no surprise if it is thrown out. It sure seems to me like it violates the "one issue" rule. The question is what happens when it is thrown out. Typically, the legislature tries to "clean things up". With Sound Transit (and the Blue Book issue) it is tough to fix it without blowing a hole in their finances. (The legislature tried to address it last term, but ultimately failed). For the rest of it, my guess is they may limit future car tab taxes, but allow old ones (like Seattle's car tab tax) to just run its course. I think Seattle has to renew its levy by 2020 anyway if I'm not mistaken. Car tabs are one of the few funding mechanisms allowed. We can still raise the sales tax a tenth of a percent, but that would put us at that limit. There may be other options, but I don't think there are that many. It would be nice if someone at The Stranger wrote about the taxing limitations Seattle is under, as it is likely Seattle would support most any tax.

17

I didn’t vote for this, but I do know that people were pissed about the dishonest valuation of cars. The legislature had every chance to fix that issue and didn’t.

18

Gotta say, I'm lovin' chair-man Timmy's new (blue!) Pestilence tee -- it really suits him. (Is that the bird that nearly swallowed him, whole, as a child?) (sad).

The best thing about this whole Leave the Billionaries (and their Mountains of Monies) ALONE populism is we'll soon be getting fabulous Toll Roads, which are nice, seldom crowded, and grant us all the Freedom car makers ever promised us. If we can afford it.

Time to sell your blood, peeps!

19

"I hope the idiots who voted for this initiative bottom out their fancy, low-riding Lamborghinis driving through the slew of potholes that are bound to become more numerous."

I drive a 4x4, but ok, it will have to be a hell of a pothole. However, since Seattle hasn't managed to do anything about potholes with all the money they've had on hand the past 5 years, maybe your opinion is worthless.

I'm pretty sure it's the limousine liberals you're confusing us "yes on I-976" voters with.

21

I don't live in Washington so I don't have a dog in this fight... that said, not really surprising. Washingtonians, much like all Americans (and much like the entire human race) are a bunch of cheapskate, selfish, short sighted fools. Whatever, they'll pass the buck as usual. Those sayings "A stitch in time saves nine?" and "penny wise and pound foolish?" Yeah... I don't think humans actually listen to or understand those proverbs.

So anyways Seattle... Have fun becoming Atlanta! Traffic here is an absolute nightmare and the very people who are the loudest complainers about it are also the same people who vote against public transportation again and again and again and again... One guy in my office complains endlessly about traffic and then two months back told me he voted against expanding the train service in a special election. God bless you American! As stupid as everyone else!

22

"The population is too stupid and greedy to be trusted with the initiative process." --@Catalina

Many are, sadly, indeed too stupid for Democracy.

But many more are too sorely un- under- and mal-informed by Sincliar Theocracies Inc and FOX (and fiends) to get a Clue.

Until we have News, and not far-right facts-free Infofuckingtaintment we're pretty much Fucked. Unless you love Dystopia. And potholes. And tolls. And trumpfy!

23

@17 Yeah trouble is this is just completely stupid. If they used a different valuation they would have had to take a higher percentage. The funding has to come from somewhere. And the super duper infuriating thing about this is that people with fucking 60K SUVs can afford their (expensive) car tabs. Get a cheaper car if you can't afford it. The environment is collapsing and when push comes to shove absolute shameless fuckwits who say they care about that fact are unwilling to make the slightest sacrifices.

24

Purely $$$ driven result. People have principles, but saving $1000 a year is an almost irresistible force. A grand is gonna beat we need transit every time.

25

@20. Well said
you fascist fuck.

26

I don't watch TV but every story I saw online seemed to be about i-976 focused pretty heavily on gridlock. Focusing on traffic is pointless because that's an issue pertaining mostly to the I-5 corridor, which for the most part already supports car tab tax.

27

Well I'm living here in Allentown
And it's hard to keep a good man down
But I won't be giving up today
And we're living here in Allentown

28

Look at the bright side. Maybe traffic will get bad enough people won't even need housing since they won't be able to get home in time to sleep anyway.

29

If you want him to stop, you need to realize three things:

The Yes vote was from people OUTSIDE the ST3 borders. People you are building parking facilities for their cars, cars which are heavily subsidized.
Want them to notice? Stop building parking facilities for transit. Let them pay for it. Stop building freeways - make them all come to a public vote, and then vote them all down.
Oh, and stop providing on street non-transit vehicle storage ("parking") using city and county tax dollars.

30

Good god every time I think people have reached peak stupidity, I wake up in the morning and read the news and something else has happened. Unbelievable.

31

Hey since we are destroying our infrastructure budget, lets go further and burn it all down.... I look forward to the initiative for a $30 a year property tax, or a 1% sales tax. Make everything a toll. Remember that case from Tennessee? "They Didn't Pay The Fee: Firefighters Watch Tennessee Family's House Burn"

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2010/10/08/130436382/they-didn-t-pay-the-fee-firefighters-watch-tennessee-family-s-house-burn

33

mad i n t e n s i f i e s

34

I love der stranger's incessant crying. Keep it up! What, no tears for the defeat of institutionalized anti-white racism (ie "affirmative action")?

36

So I guess we'll start hearing about a property tax levy to make up the difference. Gee thanks Tim.

NOT!

37

@23 pound sand. I'm not paying an extra $300 per year for "transit" that wont come anywhere near where I live so that all the rich seattle yuppies can have an easier time getting around. All you people do is shit on the eastside, but you still want our tax dollars, right?

@13 funny, Dan, I don't remember you objecting when the population was apparently smart enough to vote on minute technical details of what constitute an "assault weapon".

38

@17: No-one would give two fucks about "dishonest valuation of cars" if the end result was $30 tabs.

It's time for a state wide initiative that all tax revenue collected in a county can only be spent within that county, to prevent "Seattle" from taking advantage of the rural counties. And that's exactly how I would pitch it to the rural counties.

39

Chip? Chip?? What are we going to do about the deficit in our quotas this quarter?

Let me see, Gus. Well, let's put more people on the road and make sure everyone has to pay less for long drives to and from the airport. That way, there will be more collisions, more injuries, and more carbonated air, as well as more traffic. We love traffic, keeps regular people out of OUR city!

And you know what more collisions means! More money for HCA and Big pharma and more chiropractors and acupuncturists and naturopaths than you can shake a Dr. Hassan at. Please, we NEED this! It's good for the economy.

When will the economy be good for the people?

40

Time for the "spend-where--it's-collected" initiative. All the leeching counties in Eastern Washington will vote for it because they don't know better. And King County can finally stop subsidizing the rest of the State and use our money to fix our own problems.

41

Many have said this already. But property prices are through the roof. Property taxes are through the roof. Everywhere you turn there is another tax or fee. I understand the need for subsidization, especially early on but putting the entire cost of this buildout on car tabs was extreme. Before I moved to Leavenworth I was living in bothell. I had an 8 year old Range Rover that blue booked for around 20k. My tabs went from like 100 dollars to 900 dollars. I’d never use mass transit but even if I did it’s never coming to bothell not until I’m dead anyway. And even though I was selling that rig in two months to buy a ford truck I was being forced to buy the non refundable tabs anyway. With no pro ration of my money back at sale. Luckily I already owned my home in Leavenworth and was moving there already anyway so I register my vehicle out there and saved enough money to fly round trip to Hawaii with a week of hotel taboot. I am a democrat and I want to help the less fortunate but the car tab thing was ridiculous. Too much, too soon in a state with sky high taxes anyway. They need to find a multi pronged approach to paying for this. I mean hell why not just put a 600 percent tax on marijuana or hit everybody up for 99 cents when you log in to watch youporn for free. You’ll have the whole project completely paid off in a month. All the way to Bellingham. :)

42

I thought leftist ideas were the best ideas? Hard to believe this happened. HA HA HA!!!

43

@40: Amen.

44

@8. You're perfect. The absolute perfect illustration of short-sightedness. You might want to keep those $200 bucks on you so you can count them over and over while your ass sits in traffic until the end of time.

45

Last night's vote demonstrated several things:

1) People are sick and tired of being yelled at by elected officials with bullhorns. Trump does that enough. We want politicians that bring all people and all communities along. We want politicians that will work and collaborate with businesses, not yell at everyone.

Sawant needed to go, and she is gone. She was a cancer to Seattle and District 3. Here's hoping Orion will do better.

2) Transparency in taxes matter. Washington's existing tax on car tabs was rife with pork and the legislature had ample time to fix it. It didn't, so the voters fixed it.

3) More than anything, Seattle wants balance. The council went too far to the left. Seattle doesn't want to become San Francisco, no matter how much The Stranger wants that. Seattle is a liberal city, but not a socialist city. It's a city that embraces business and cares about community. That means people working together, not hostility and revolutions.

Which brings me to this "article". Katie, what are you accomplishing with your language? Do you think your ocean of profanities is helping your cause? You're no better than Donald Trump: you're pandering to your audience, but you're losing the populous in the process. Look at what's happening across the country, in Virginia and Kentucky.

People are tired of being yelled at. We're all Americans. We voted. Our vote was bigger and more powerful than yours because we don't like your message, your values, and your belligerent tone.

I'm a proud liberal. I'm not a socialist. I want Seattle to thrive and win. And last night, I won.

And that's that.

KateG

46

@40 Thats fine. Just dont expect any county outside king to enforce your gun and sanctuary state laws for you. Also in this case, my car tabs were going towards building light rail stations nowhere near where i live, so it was the exact opposite of the wealth transfer you claim is happening.

47

@40 I suspect that there is some awareness among the leftward faction in the legislature that if you de-fund eastern WA communities it is the most vulnerable who will pay the price, not deplorable pustules like @37. If we could selectively say withhold funding for battling a wildfire that was bearing down on his house, now I might be for that.

49

@41 Check your privilege. You're lucky that you are able to own your own home and own your own car. So you have to pay a lot of money for your car? Guess what, a working-class mom has to pay a lot of money to ride the bus for an hour each way to and from her job, now this initiative has made it so her commute will be even harder. Enjoy your air polluting truck and your cozy home in a tourist resort, though.

50

@41
A log-in porn tax! Great idea!
That's putting your money where your mouth (or other body part) is!

51

@49 I'm quite happy with my privilege as a hard-working single parent. I proudly earn what I have, and I don't ask for handouts. Having things doesn't equal privilege, so educate yourself on what things like "work", "earn", and "achieve" mean. People like you give the left a bad name.

52

@51 please you are so fucking sanctimonious as if you live in a society where "work," "earn," and "achieve" are all equally accessible to everyone. people like you give people a bad name. fuck you and your belief system that denies reality.

53

I'll be curious to see a breakdown by age on the voting on this one.
Is this another case of boomers giving the finger to millenials and Gen X'ers?
Or is it rather the case that people across the board have a diminished sense of civic responsibility?

54

Car tab fees are a decent tax in that they charge people who use the infrastructure a fair fee to maintain it....

BUT they are still a regressive tax that would disproportionately charge poor people for a vital commodity they overwhelmingly need to make a living.

So don't mourn the car tabs too fiercely.

You need...let's do this one more time...A FUCKING INCOME TAX!

Until you have one, until you march your fucking May Day parade on Olympia instead of a Starbucks to make it happen, until you make real sacrifices to make it happen...

Where the fuck do you find the audacity to be outraged about anything else?

55

@16: "But mostly, people hate car tab taxes. It doesn't help that Sound Transit fucked up, and had a schedule that is weird (not basing car values on Blue Book). Most people wouldn't notice, but it sounds sneaky (even though it really isn't -- it is just weird)."

Weird or not, the perception of a significant portion of the voters was that something sneaky was afoot. That was: ST sold the tax by slipping a screwy valuation table deep into their legislation. And those voters took that as a sign of disrespect. So, not an initiative to amend the valuation formula. But an 'F* You. You conned us. Now we're kicking your ass.'

The liberal talking heads are already chattering on the radio about how long it will be before the state legislature can put together a two thirds vote and get the tab tax (along with its oddball valuations) reinstated. That might not be a wise idea. Sometimes, when you screw up and your parents ground you for the weekend, it's best just to take your lumps and shut up. If you keep fighting it, you might get enrolled in that military academy.

56

LukeJosef @54: "(Car tab fees) are still a regressive tax that would disproportionately charge poor people for a vital commodity they overwhelmingly need to make a living."

Exactly. Car tabs disproportionately charge poor people who have to drive those Teslas and Ferraris that they overwhelmingly need to make a living.

In this Trump era, we've reached the point in public discourse where nothing means anything. Trump can label the real news as "fake news" and then peddle the canard that it was Ukraine not Russia that meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump. In that spirit, it appears that people are now able to throw around the word "regressive" to attack any tax they don't like, even if the tax is the very antithesis of regressive.

57

@54 Dubious at best. People with expensive cars pay more. People with expensive cars are more likely to be people with higher incomes. Cars and motorists are already hugely subsidized and they should instead be paying through the nose for their impact.

Hopefully the courts will shoot down this selfish meathead idiocy like they did last time. Oh you fuckholes are so infuriating. I want you to fall down the stairs and then we won't send an ambulance because 'hey I've never had to call an ambulance'. Fucking twits!

58

@54: "A FUCKING INCOME TAX!"

Let's use the belligerent child analogy one more time. You just threw a baseball through the living room window (imposed an oddball valuation tax). Your parents ground you for the weekend. So you steal dad's prized Porsche and drove it into the lake (proposed an income tax). It's the military academy for sure now, kid.

59

@58 Yeah this argument is just inane. The Eyesore shit passed for the same reason it passed before: yahoos in the hinterlands don't want to pay for anything. The 'sneaky valuation' crap is just spin they have latched onto as a means of obfuscating the obvious: they are motivated by nothing but nihilistic selfishness. 'It's those duplicitous bureaucrats' is a good way to avoid facing the fact that you are basically just a piece of shit.

60

Let's just increase the tolls on 520 and the new 99Tunnel. Kill two birds with one, uh, terrible metaphor. Or better, increase the tax on billionaire-owned rocket ships and airplanes and submarines and yachts aaaand cars. Make the ültra-rïch pay for the things the commoners need. You know, like they did in the old days. Traditional!

@10 - Exactly! Reagan would be proud! "If the public wants public highways, the public can pay for them." (a bit of a paraphrase, but Ronnie boy did say exactly that about 'radio' not 'highways' Still, we should dutifully extend his logic to all public things, obviously. /s)

@40 - Solid. I guess. "United we stand, divided.... we sit as stalled traffic."

@21 - Sad irony of your comment Urgutha, is that Atlanta actually received the exact federal funds to install a light rail system which Seattle had ^turned down^ so many years ago.
That Atlanta now has hellish traffic is a double-irony.

61

People should have some awareness of why this was approved. For me to use mass transit I would have to use the bus system. To get to work it would require me to change busses twice and be two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. There was no improvement that was ever going to come for me to get from West Seattle to North Seattle. For the next twenty years I would have to use this same bus system. So instead I drive a compact hybrid that gets me to work in forty minutes.
During my drive, congestion and traffic issues are completely caused by non passenger vehicles. Large vehicles who don't move people, but are for business related projects either to or from the port or construction vehicles for the benefit of real estate developers. These commercial trucking companies, large businesses, and real estate speculators pay absolutely nothing in taxes, but the city has decided that people like me in my little car are the problem and want to charge us people just trying to make ends meet over 500 dollars in vehicle registration fees.
Now I'm not saying I agree with the politics of Eyeman and I understand we have to pay taxes for the improvement of Seattle, but geez, c'mon, I mean the city need to put their big boy and big girl pants on and make the business tax dodgers pay, but alas, they have bought city hall and we usually suffer.

62

@58: "So you steal dad's prized Porsche and drove it into the lake (proposed an income tax). It's the military academy for sure now, kid."

And let's keep in mind Dad's already pretty damn pissed at the onerous car tabs he's having to pay on his Porsche.

63

@61 Single people driving alone in their cars, hybrids or no, are hugely subsidized. And asserting that traffic congestion is 'completely caused' by commercial vehicles is just plain ludicrous. Funding transit is about more than dipshit simplistic shit like 'what do I get out of it'. We are facing environmental collapse and we are doing pathetically little and PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE THE PROBLEM! Pat yourself on the back for driving a hybrid though!

64

All stand for the Devo corporate anthem, thank you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1OLla3_hnM

66

63

Wow, you are a terrible jerk. You are just awful. I am the problem? Your views sound like the most privileged nonsense I have ever heard. Who drives a hybrid to pat themselves on the back? They drive it save money. I guess that doesn't occur to privileged people like you. Who said I voted for it? I gurantee I pay more taxes than you so where is this subsidized argument coming from. Furthermore, to call an argument ludicrous is hyperbole in which you can't back up your reaction in one single fact or measure.

I hope you are able to see through your privilege and understand why my fellow community members, who don't have financial advantages in our community would vote against this, but I guess that is beyond you.

67

Keep funding transit, start tearing out King County's least-used roads—it's the only thing that makes sense in these lean times. Willows Road can be awfully quiet compared to 4th Ave, scrap it. NE 124th? Barely a fraction of the traffic as Westlake Ave. No reason to keep that running, should probably eminent domain it for condos.

68

you mean the 555,000+ stains that voted for this? this is NOT Tim Eyman's initiative. it is the will of the people. i would think democrats would respect that.

69

you mean the 555,000+ stains that voted for this? this is NOT Tim Eyman's initiative. it is the will of the people. i would think democrats would respect that.

i think the same people who suffer from TDS are also infected with EDS, Eyman Derangement Syndrome.

70

@66 Wha? Privilege? Did you pull that out of your ass because you see this term tossed around frequently? How can you know that you 'for sure pay more taxes' than I do? I can for sure know your comment about traffic congestion is ludicrous because I DRIVE ON THE FUCKING ROADS! I understand why nitwits voted for Eyesore's initiative. Perfectly. As I said: nihilistic selfishness. There's really no way around this: if you are sticking your head in the sand (or way up your own ass), when we are facing environmental collapse, you are the problem.

71

@69 Yep they're shitstains. Is that what you wanted cleared up? Trump is sitting in the WH because it was the 'will of the people'. I'd say we have yet more evidence here that the people are idiots.

72

68 & 69: So does “Will of the People” extend to gun control initiatives, or is constitutionality depend on your political beliefs?

73

It's a reflection ot the lingering anger and resentment over that Sound Transit "bait and switch" initiative that caught the residents of three counties totally off guard. You had to know there was going to be payback for that, and here it is.

Living outside those counties (and having been unaffected by that Sound Transit initiative) the money I'm going to save on car tabs isn't enough to buy me two meals at the local cheap eats Asian all-you-can eat buffet.

74

40: “Time for the "spend-where--it's-collected" initiative. All the leeching counties in Eastern Washington will vote for it because they don't know better.”

Uh, go look at the county map of returns; you’ll see that 976 is only being defeated in three counties. So your “leeches” are a lot closer to home.

Any initiative won’t get passed (or defeated) in this state without strong support out of the Seattle metro area. Eastern Washington doesn’t have the votes on its own. The fact that Pierce County is passing 976 at 67% and Snohomish is at 61% tells you everything.

75

The "Will of the People?" HAHAHAHAHA.

The "Will of the People" was legalized slavery, segregation, separate drinking fountains, miscegenation laws... etc. The "Will fo the People" keeps creationism as in school science curriculums and allows anti-vax idiots to kill children. Fuck, the so called "Will of the People" even elected Hitler chancellor of Germany.

It may be democratic but said "will" is not often intelligent, just, or moral.

76

No binary myopic choice could possibly constitute the vox populi's collective will on a few single issues and SUPAHSTAHhhhh Sheri O' Terries to be responsible for everything we need. As we are apparently as a city paying attention to matters at hand, it is up to us to now use these elected people, no matter how much money and from where it came, we must voice our concerns cooperatively on the merits of the ideas, no matter whose Hatfield or McCoy wants to start a fucking argument when I am trying to fucking vote in a lobby with a bunch of tense people of the working and service class, that our needs must be addressed without the rigid convex lens of ideologal identity as Judge Dredd over an inner common sense. Make these people know our needs and if it is roo inconvenient to do so by paper alone, put these minds to work to solve problems absent any profit seeking and on survival and efficacy of the first order as you would in a space war against an alien species as in " Welcome to Earf." So stop being demoralized and succumbing to learned helplessness, and remember that you are the one to be heard and understood. You must make use of your will and courage and find the strength to ask for help or give it accordingly if you can overcome common sense danger signals and your own fear and pain. This is the key to social changes. Trust and spirited debate, you philistines.

77

It’s good to see the Stranger squealing like the stuck pig it has become. It is clearly out of touch with all of the people whom don’t live within a twenty block radius of its office. This whole “Eyman thing” as his detractors are sometimes want to call it,shows just how insane you (and ironically) the real press have become over one man whom has a sense of what the PEOPLE (remember them ?) want.

78

53 -- speaking of the Generational Wars

From today's New York Times:
"Instead of a Generational Culture War, Let’s Fight the Rich"
“'Ok billionaire' is a better rallying cry than 'ok boomer.'"

"Generations are pretty bogus. The labels we use to casually slice up society — boomer, millennial, Gen X, Gen Z — are a nearly useless way of thinking about politics, culture or business in America.

The very idea that tens of millions of people across different classes and races and geographies might hold similar views on a range of subjects just because they happened to be born during the same 20-year span of American history — the whole thing sounds a bit too much like astrology, doesn’t it?" --the article's author, Farhad Manjoo

Never look UP, they command us.
Taste like chicken, I hear...

79

Katie...you're making the same mistake the "No" campaign made-personalizing it about Tim Eyman Look, I agree with you that the guy is a stain, but you don't persuade most voters to vote against something by having figures representing the state engaging in what looks like a personal vendatta against one guy, night after night after night. I think the thing passed, as much as anything else, because they kept using the phrase "Vote No on TIM EYMAN'S I-976". Voting no would have been the wiser choice, and there is no greater good that can come of the damage to ordinary people in places like Seattle by forcing bus fares up again-most of the working-class transit riding community can't afford to pay any more for fares, and have far less ability to handle those fares than the people who voted "Yes" would have to handle the increase in car tab fees-but when you have all these people singling out one individual for what looks like gratuitous personal attack gave the initiative, and the, "street cred" neither would ever have had if they campaign slogan been "Save Public Transit-Save Jobs!". Focusing on Eyman, stain that he is, shoplifter that he is, simply made the NO campaign look elitist in a way it never actually had to look.

80

78

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/opinion/ok-boomer-billionaire.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

81

@78

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/06/opinion/ok-boomer-billionaire.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

82

@59: "yahoos in the hinterlands don't want to pay for anything"

Yahoos in the hinterlands don't have to pay the ST assessments.

"a good way to avoid facing the fact that you are basically just a piece of shit."

<sarcasm>Well thank you. I'm sure to change my vote the next time around.</sarcasm>

84

@79 Eh, it passed, as it did before, because when you give anti-tax nitwits (of which there are far too many) the opportunity to vote against taxes, even if they aren't paying them, they will unsurprisingly vote against taxes. Head up the ass selfishness wins every day. Possibly the 'no' campaign could have stressed more that this issue does not boil down to whether a train goes to your front door or not. Doubtful that would have done any good whatsoever. They did attempt to point out that this would lead to a catastrophic drop in transportation funding across the board, not just for light rail.

Clear as day that the majority of the populace, at least in this country, is perfectly willing to let the world burn around them (often literally) rather than be inconvenienced, or make the slightest sacrifice.

85

@84 Why do you hate democracy?

86

@82 Er, take a look at the map: https://results.vote.wa.gov/results/current/State-Measures-Initiative-Measure-No-976_ByCounty.html

Yahoos in the hinterlands will vote against taxes whether they have to pay them or not (and exurbs in Pierce County for instance are basically hinterlands).

87

75% yes in Stevens County. How much are they paying for car tabs?

88

@87: "75% yes in Stevens County. How much are they paying for car tabs?"

Enough to see what happened in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties and not wanting the wool pulled over their eyes by the legislature at some future date.

89

@85: Said the person who probably spent eight years insisting Obama's majority-vote electoral victories didn't actually count.

90

@85

Why do you hate freedom?

91

@89 Why would I do that if I voted for him 4 times because he's just my kind of moderate Democrat.

93

Meh. All the people who voted for 30$ tabs don't get to bitch about being stuck in traffic or when that old bridge they use falls down, or the fact that to make up that revenue short fall tolls will probably go up. You reap what you sow.

94

@83: hey, pssst, hey, I know you're obsessed with her and all? But she's never going to fuck you dude. It's sad watching you.

95

@56 & @57: Weird cause we all agree that sales taxes (like all consumption taxes) are regressive. Sales taxes are WHY your state is a moral wasteland that taxes the bottom quintile of earners up to 16% of there income! Though obviously you pay more taxes on a $140 steak then a $4 cheese burger. Remarkably...still regressive!

A Camry (which has been rising in price faster than wages) is still a much bigger share of a middle class person's income than a Model S is of a millionaires. If that's going over your head, you might be a fucking idiot!

@59 THERE THEY ARE! The eastern Washington rednecks! The perfect foil for Seattle's fauxgressive assholes. As long as east Washington exists, Seattle will never have to actually sacrifice anything for its supposed ideals. They'll just keep calling for the revolution while living in the most regressively taxed state in the country and doing NOTHING about it! Nothing that is except keep trying to pass new regressive taxes.

96

@93

Ok boomer.

97

@60,
I know. Not sure what happened. There IS a pretty awesome public rail system here (though it's actually heavy rail, not light) but my guess is what happened was people just kept moving further and further away from the city center and the trains don't go out that far and any funding for them to do so has been subsequently killed.

My theory is that people actually WANT to be sitting in traffic. I'm dead serious. I know it's hard to believe, but you look at the behaviors of people here, not just in what they fund, but in how they use, talk about, and relate to traffic in general, and it all points to people wanting to be stuck sitting in their cars in traffic. Don't know why... I just know what the evidence tells me.

98

@88 Pretty sure the legislature cannot increase the car tabs because of Eyerash's earlier initiative. And just a hunch: the cavemen who run Stevens County would rather allow bridges to collapse and roads to wash away than to raise any tax whatsoever.

@92 I'm hoping they can come up with a 'stable revenue source' that somehow bleeds you shits dry. Maybe a tax on inbreeding?

99

Great opportunity for Inslee to embrace the obviously popular idea of $30 car tabs, and instead fund transit with a large gasoline tax (with a rebate to address regressive aspect). Like a mini carbon tax scheme. Better from an equity perspective. Better from a climate perspective. Better than subsidizing rich people buying $125,000 Teslas.

100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXyl07yfRaQ

101

@95 A middle class motorist is still a motorist and driving is hugely subsidized.

Regarding the income tax: you are just farting in the wind. You're paying attention right? Pretty much every single time the residents of this state are able to vote on any tax they go with their lizard brain. There is absolutely zero chance there will be a state income tax ever.

102

" they go with their lizard brain"

We keep shitting on voters and insulting them and then we're so shocked they don't vote for us!

103

I voted for the$30 tabs. I live in Seattle. The ads against it did nothing for me. Im also a state employee, not transportation but still a state employee. Our highways won't suffer if our government would take an interest in being better at managing projects and how our money is spent. I see it on a daily basis. I have reported the misspending of millions of dollars and it just gets shoved down through management and buried in the hopes it will be forgotten. It's disgusting. The state can choose to start being better stewards or try scare tactics like the ads they created. My guess is instead of holding themselves accountable they will choose to make citizens suffer more. Inslee is definitely not getting my vote. He should be ashamed of himself.

104

@101: Quick reminder, the very first this I wrote was:

“Car tab fees are a decent tax in that they charge people who use the infrastructure a fair fee to maintain it.”

The point is not that the car tab fee is bad, it’s that this sanctimonious bullshit from people who can’t be bothered to do real work for a fair tax system and mooch off the poorest people in your state is bad!

41 states and the federal government have an income tax. Seems pretty doable. But that’s the point. You people don’t want to do the work. You don’t want a fair tax system. You want to feel like your more enlightened than everyone in east washington while you lift not a single finger to make your state a fair place to live. And I’m wondering where you find the fucking audacity.

105

@96: Awww look at you getting all trendy! You know though, for an insult to work? It has to actually apply to the person you're trying to insult.
Good for for trying to stay relevant though!
Xoxo

106

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65l7RHUx2A

107

@104 There is not a shred of evidence that an income tax is 'doable' in this state. There is however a mountain of evidence it is a complete non-starter. Even one that specifically targeted only the ultra-wealthy recently went down in flames.

People who have cheap ass cars (who are probably not all that poor as they do have cars) were not paying much for tabs. Figure in how much driving is subsidized and they were still coming out way ahead.

108

The sky won't fall. The problem is elected officials only can govern on a crisis to crisis basis now, everything is a "crisis" followed by invoking the name of whatever identity group they think will be useful to drum up sympathy or support for their latest tax and spend antics.

110

I just love the fact that there was no "Yes on I-976" campaign (at least not that I saw). TV was full of "No" ads, and yet it still passed by 10+%. Oops?

111

Again, what’s going to happen to all of the construction contracts that have been let? All the property acquired?Any bonds issued? All the equipment orders? Let alone all the housing being constructed?

This thing will be found unconstitutional. It has to be. Or they will have to delay implementation until the current contracts and bonds have been paid. Hopefully, ST and the other agencies locked in a lot of contracts when they saw this turd was coming at them.


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