SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Got an oil furnace? Durkan will tax you for that

Aug 9, 2019, 12:35 PM

ice seattle Durkan, oil furnace...

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan. (File photo, Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

(File photo, Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

When I was a kid, we had an oil furnace. I remember how the oil tanker trunk would come every few months. I remember the metal cap in the yard where it would be refilled.

We would often run out of oil and not have a working furnace for weeks at a time because my mom didn’t have the money to get more heating oil.

A lot of the people who have an oil furnace live in an older house and cannot afford to make the conversion to gas — I’m talking about older people on a fixed income or the working poor. There are 18,000 homes in Seattle with those old oil furnaces, those Craftsman-style homes that were built in the 1920s through 1950s.

Well now Jenny Durkan wants to impose an oil tax on those homes of 24 cents per gallon, as she announced in a press release this week. The reason? She wants to essentially punish people for having oil furnaces. She wants to get people to switch to renewable sources of heat.

Jay Inslee exploits low-income residents for his own selfish aspirations

This is a tax that is mainly going to be on older people and on those who cannot afford the conversion.

Here’s where it gets especially hypocritical — she says they’re going to use the tax revenue to fund programs that will help the poor switch to electric heat. An older person on a fixed income may not qualify for these government-funded programs, but that person does qualify to provide that money.

It’s just another example of how government is micro-managing our lives. It’s social engineering in the name of the climate scam.

Seattle loves to tax the poorest people, minorities, and the elderly. Think of the soda tax. Think of the congestion pricing they’re pushing. Now we have this oil tax. The politicians do all this talking about the groups that they care about, and then those very groups are the ones that get slammed with every new tax that they impose.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Please follow our Community Guidelines

Jimothy (2)...

Julia Dallas

Jimothy Facebook page warns of death threats against deformed raccoon

Jimothy, the deformed Ballard raccoon turned national celebrity, has reportedly been receiving death threats.

9 minutes ago

President Donald Trump speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House Monday, Nov...

Associated Press

Trump after meeting with Qatari PM says he believes war with Iran is militarily ‘effectively over’

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday told reporters he believe the war in Iran “militarily is effectively over.” The president made a surprise visit to White House briefing room after meeting with Qatar’s prime minister earlier in the day. “Iran militarily is effectively over,” Trump said. “We’re just keeping it the status quo.” […]

25 minutes ago

Bird Flu...

Julie Berg, KIRO 7 News

Bird flu confirmed in birds at Lake Tye Park in Monroe

The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife confirmed that avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, is present in birds at Lake Tye Park.

27 minutes ago

chipotle seattle taco time...

Charlie Harger

Study: Out of 960 Chipotles, the most praised one in America is in a former Seattle Taco Time

The best Chipotle in America sits inside one of Seattle’s strangest buildings, according to a new study.

39 minutes ago

The MSC Seascape cruise ship is visible above the newly opened cruise terminal near 16th Street and...

Associated Press

FBI is investigating a possible homicide aboard a cruise ship out of Texas

HOUSTON (AP) — The FBI is investigating a “suspected homicide” aboard a cruise ship that returned to port after departing from Galveston, Texas, the agency said in a statement Monday. The FBI did not provide further details, saying the investigation was ongoing. The company that operates the MSC Seascape said the vessel has since resumed […]

43 minutes ago

FILE - A patient walks down a hallway at the Fayetteville Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Fayett...

Associated Press

As Veterans Affairs expands automation, it commits more errors on veterans’ claims

When Randy Leger Diaz left the Marines, he said, his whole body was in pain. Following rigorous physical training in the mornings, Leger had spent his days in uniform working in a warehouse in Okinawa, Japan, where he was part of the 7th Communication Battalion from 2014 to 2016. The labor took a toll. After […]

44 minutes ago

Dori: Got an oil furnace? Durkan will tax you for that