I was at a candidate’s forum for the open seat in the 36th district and it was pretty standard for one of the most liberal districts in the state. They all support marriage equality and an income tax. But one thing that Sahar Fathi said in passing was that we could have a local option income tax. I wish the forum allowed for a follow up on that, but it seems like a reasonable thing to have, but how would it work?
I’d assume you would allocate a certain amount to the counties and a certain amount to the cities. It would presumably be the sort of thing that could be done either by a city or county council or by a vote of the people.
While, I would prefer a statewide income tax, that was rejected at the polls recently, so it probably won’t happen for a while. We can at least enact it in places where it’s popular and either generate more revenue or make the local tax structure more fair. And that money would stay in Seattle or King County.
It will be a cold day in hell with the waste in this government, that an income tax gets passed. Privatising the liquor stores was just the beginning! Offshore IT departments, help desks, privatize the ferries and the libraries, DMZ, schools, etc. Then come talk to us about need for an Income tax!
@ 1
2/10
Too obvious…
Regarding yd’s comment @1. Wasn’t the WA ferry system developed because the private ferry system was going broke.
@ 3
Yup. They can’t make money. The WSF was mostly federalized under Eisenhower because it is considered part of the Washington Highway System and was also considered part of the Strategic road system, critical to national defense. Privatize the Ferries and force them to realize a profit, and you’d see $100 fares to Bremerton, or as much to Vashon Island. Each way.
Its the same reason why Amtrak should be fully funded at the Federal level. When gasoline is $10 a gallon, that weekly trip to grandmas in the next county becomes impossible for most people. And yes, gasoline WILL be $10 a gallon within 5 or 6 years no matter who is President. Watch the Saudis. They aren’t as stable as everyone seems to think they are.
@1 You don’t need to prove you’re an idiot. We already know that.
I really don’t care anymore whether Washington voters keep shooting down tax reform. If they want to cut off their own balls, I don’t give a damn, that’s their problem. I’m not a 1-percenter, but I’m far enough up the income ladder to benefit from a tax system heavily skewed in favor of cheapskates like me who don’t pay any sales taxes because I never buy anything. If people in this state are stupid enough to put all the tax burden on the bottom quintile so the asset-owning class doesn’t have to pay taxes, I’ll take it, just like I’ll take FREE MONEY from Wall Street. (Last I looked, I made $3200 today before getting out of bed.) I’m more than happy to pay Republican taxes on my investment income, namely, none. I don’t vote that way, but I’ll take it, if stupid voters give it to me.
Privatize the Ferries?
No, the fares will not rise to $100 because no one will pay that!
Rather, real estate values “over there” will poof. UNLESS. someone suggests a LID … that is A TAX!
Critics of the value from taxes ought to ask themselves where the capital came from to build …
the railroads, the Internet, jet airplanes, radio, GPS, and … the biggest of all citizen gimmes …. tax paid armies rippin of indigenous folk!
@1
You do know that private businesses exist to make a profit?
They do that by limiting competition any way they can. Then they raise their prices and cut their costs.
@8,
Private companies mainly make money by providing goods and services that people want. Demonizing private business is too typical a response from the usual suspects on this blog. Have you ever worked in the private sector, or are you another one of the usual suspects who think government is the only answer to every question and everyone who works for governemnt should have their asses constantly kissed by those struggling to run a private business? The private sector is the source of the taxes you people are always demanding.
@9 “Private companies mainly make money by providing goods and services that people want.”
It’s been a long time since big corporations competed for our business by making a better product at a lower price. Now, they spend millions on lobbyists to keep us from finding out what’s in the food they sell us.
Oh yeah, one more thing, Bush filled his cabinet with ex-CEOs of companies that lived on government contracts. None of those guys ever made an honest dollar in his life.
If you want to visualize how companies make money by providing “goods and services that people want,” just shut your eyes and imagine what went on behind the closed doors of Cheney’s energy task force.
I lived in Pennsylvania where they had this local option. I moved six or seven miles and dropped my local city tax and county income tax by over 60 percent.
Second worst regressive tax, after sales taxes on necessary items like food.
13: Which is why we need to fully fund government on a state-wide system, with LID’s limited to purely local problems. But Tim Eyeman doen’st even agree with that modest compromise.
We have the same problem with health care – it can’t be done on a state-by-state basis because the high-consumers of health care (i.e., those with expensive cancer treatments, transplants, etc.) will leave the states without an adequate health system and migrate to those where their life might be saved, albeit at a disproportionate cost to the taxpayers of those states. That’s why we need it on a national level – Romney’s specious argument that it’s a “state issue” is obviously a non-starter.
As it is, you see migration for health care reasons across the borders with Canada. Those needing expensive, long-term health care are migrating to Canada instead of waiting to die here while their private insurer keeps denying their claim. In return, the wealthy with elective surgery (a low priority in the Canadian system) come to the U.S. to pay for elective medical care at a spa resort.
Combine this with a 4% reduction in the state sales tax and you’d have a winner. East siders would vote for it in a heartbeat. Then we on the west side can go ahead and create a local income tax, and keep all that tax money here for our own roads, schools and services. Our neighbors across the mountains will soon die of Cholera and we can have the whole state. Win!