Dori: Taxation without representation in council’s Seattle City Light resolution
Jul 31, 2018, 4:23 PM
I cannot imagine a more useless city council than what we have here in Seattle. Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda has introduced a resolution that would allow Seattle City Light to sell off surplus properties for less than market value. Under her resolution, they would prioritize development that leads to low-income housing.
Man, what a racket that is for the developers. Did it occur to anyone that some developers might have sunk their claws into the Mosqueda and the rest of the city council members? As soon as you toss out buzzwords like “low-income housing,” everyone is all over it.
Now there is a problem with Mosqueda’s resolution; it’s illegal. You’d think that Bob Ferguson would come in and sue — oh wait, he’s too busy suing the Trump administration. The Washington State Supreme Court has said in the past that Seattle City Light and Seattle Public Utilities cannot spend rate-payer money on non-utility items. Homeless shelters are a non-utility item. But in the scam that is the Seattle City Council, this is a way to pass a tax hike on you and me without calling it a tax hike. Selling off Seattle assets for less than market value is a tax increase — but they don’t call it that.
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As I’ve talked about before, I don’t live in Seattle. I don’t get a vote on any of these people on the council. So when they say, “Hey, let’s sell off Seattle assets for less than market value,” that’s taxing me, as a rate-payer, without any representation. That is pure taxation without representation, the issue that started the American Revolution. But in Seattle, we’re going back to the days of kings and queens with the royalty that is the Seattle City Council. They get to impose taxes on us.
I can just hear the council supporters now: “But it’s for low-income housing! Surely, Monson wouldn’t be so heartless that he would complain about us subsidizing low-income housing?”
It is illegal. Seattle City Light cannot do that, as the Supreme Court has ruled. And so, there will be lawsuits. The Seattle City Council will lose. Bob Ferguson won’t do anything because he only goes after people who aren’t Democrats.
Is this just going to be another big giveaway to the Low-Income Housing Institute? Another way to subsidize LIHI Director Sharon Lee’s $180,000 per year salary in the racket that is homelessness around here? It’s not enough that we spend a billion dollars a year on homelessness and watch the problem get worse and worse?
Oh and by the way, Seattle City Light is the mismanaged racket that had massive, multi-million-dollar cost overruns. They missed a $5.4 million light item for sales tax. A bunch of incompetent buffoons. Who in the world does a budget that includes purchasing stuff and doesn’t include the sales tax? Has anyone been fired for that? No, of course not — it’s just taxpayer money. There’s plenty more where that comes from; we’ll just jack up the rates of the taxpayers. And now the council is talking about having Seattle City Light sell off property to the homelessness racket under market value.
Man, developers get rich off of homelessness. The people who run organizations like LIHI make their $180,000 per year. Seattle City Light has one of the highest-paid CEOs in government, and they just missed a $5.4 million line item. Yeah, I’d say it’s quite a racket.
It’s quite a clown show around here.
