Dori: Initiative 976 is not about Eyman — it’s so much bigger
Oct 9, 2019, 8:47 AM
Washington car tabs. (MyNorthwest)
(MyNorthwest)
I don’t know that I’ve ever been so positive and supportive of an initiative as I am of Initiative 976.
It would reduce all car tabs to $30. It would save you and me billions, preventing this money from getting into the hands of a government that perhaps does not always spend it so wisely.
I don’t care what you personally think of Tim Eyman. Forget about your feelings toward Eyman, whatever they may be. I just want you to read what he said to the Seattle City Council during public comment before they voted unanimously to take a position against Initiative 976.
If it was a private company that was gouging people like this, taking more money than they’re really entitled to, the government would shut them down. But because it’s the government itself taking more money than [they] should from the taxpayers, all we’re getting is excuses. You’re saying, ‘It doesn’t matter if it’s dishonest, it doesn’t matter if it’s artificially inflated, because we’re spending the money that we shouldn’t be taking from you on really good stuff.’ And what we’re dealing with is, we have a state that has a $3.5 billion tax surplus, which is more than enough money to back-fill any affected government program. Get rid of the dishonest tax, use the surplus in order to be able to back-fill the affected programs, and transition to a system that is a heck of a lot more fair, that under 976 they have to get voter approval, and they have to use the Kelley Blue Book or the actual value of a vehicle, so that if a $10,000 car is going to be taxed, it’s going to be taxed at $10,000. That seems reasonable to me. What I find just inconceivable is that you can’t recognize the fact that people are extremely upset about this, and they’re very upset because their elected officials aren’t telling them and acknowledging that it’s a problem. Instead you’re saying, ‘Just take it, because we’re using the money on really good stuff.’ And I think most people think if it’s dishonest, you shouldn’t be imposing it at all, regardless of what you spend the money on.
Dori: ‘No on I-976’ ads sleazier than anything Eyman has ever done
What do you disagree with there? We are being taxed on a phantom over-valuation of our cars that the Legislature has long since replaced.
If you’re a working class person, you cannot afford to give phantom tax dollars to an organization like Sound Transit. A lot of what they spend their money on is bureaucracy, rather than anything that actually helps.
KIRO 7 TV’s Essex Porter asked Eyman a really good question — why should we voters trust him? And Eyman had a great response.
I think voters should trust themselves, and look at the bills that they’re getting for their car tabs, and see that they’re dishonest.
This isn’t about Eyman. This is about whether you want to keep paying a valuation of $18,000 for a car that’s worth $10,000. This is about whether you think the government should continue being allowed to overtax us compared to the value of our vehicles.
Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
