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A comment on Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost public transportation. Parent comment

Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by runarberg on Monday December 16, 2019 @05:21PM (#21808009)
I think exactly that happened in the last Washington state election. The state legislator put on the ballot a measure that would limit the amount the state could tax each car owner. Proponents would claim that the tax was going towards public transit infrastructure (like Sound Transit 3) and that it was unfair to tax car owners for that.

The measure was approved.

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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by julienb_sea on Monday December 16, 2019 @05:29PM (#21808118)
The measure was sold largely as a general flipping of the bird towards King and neighboring counties by the rest of the state. Generally there is opposition from eastern Washington for car tabs going to fund Sound Transit's investments on the western corridor, which doesn't really do anything to benefit those that don't live in the western corridor.

And yes, I am aware that King net exports money to the east. I'm not sure how impactful that argument is for a minimum wage worker living far away from Seattle paying $500 a year on car tabs, for a car that they have no alternative but owning in order to get to their job.

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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by sitkack on Monday December 16, 2019 @11:19PM (#21810528)
You might want to reference [1], as you are flagrantly incorrect.

https://www.dol.wa.gov/vehicleregistration/docs/VehicleFees....

> If you live in the Sound Transit RTA district of King, Pierce, or Snohomish counties, you may be required to pay an RTA tax that helps pay for local mass-transit projects.

Municipalitis tacks on an additional fee, Seattle's is 80, Spokane's is 20. The only way for someone to be paying $500 in Wenatchee is if they owned 4+ cars.

[1] http://www2.csudh.edu/ccauthen/576f12/frankfurt__harry_-_on_...

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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by haberman on Monday December 16, 2019 @07:14PM (#21809115)
I thought the SoundTransit car tabs were only paid inside the SoundTransit area? Are Eastern Washington voters really paying $500 car tabs to build light rail hundreds of miles away? That would be shocking to me if true.
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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by bingotips on Monday December 16, 2019 @08:12PM (#21809493)
You are correct, the RTA tax is assessed at the time of (car tab) renewal using the vehicle's address of record. It only covers Snohomish County, Seattle area, South King County, East King County and Pierce County.
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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by lazyasciiart on Tuesday December 17, 2019 @05:48AM (#21812404)
No, they aren't, but they are convinced that they are.
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Re:Kansas City is first major city in U.S. to offer no-cost ... by seanmcdirmid on Monday December 16, 2019 @05:41PM (#21808249)
It wasn’t the state legislators who put that on the ballot, but anti-tax activist Tim Eyman. We’ve been down this route before with property taxes and even car tabs. Note that a previous county-wide initiative approved the car tabs in the first place (in those counties only), they were then repealed by this state-wide one. Amazing how the vote can swing when sampling grows beyond King and parts of Snohomish and pierce county.
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