Transportation Tax

[Superman]

Okay, I'm not going to start a fight here, or at least I'll try not to. Washington State has had some political catharsis lately while its public roads have deteriorated miserably. In their greed, the usually intelligent voters here made the mistake of ditching a progressive MV excise tax that increased with the value of the car (and of course the motorists' ability to pay), and we have been scrambling to replace that revenue so that roads can at least be maintained! It probably won't go anywhere but a rogue legislator just introduced legislation that would tie MV taxes to vehicle weight.

Folks who drive Porsches will see the beauty of this proposal, and folks who drive the largest pickup trucks and SUV they can fabricate will miss that beauty. Of course, it makes far too much sense to "get legs" in our legislature, so all this is probably neither here nor there, but I thought I'd pass it along as a bit of news that should be interesting to sports cars folks.

[john70t]

The trucking industry already pays big taxes for road use because of the wear and tear on the roads but some of the 7000+lb. SUVs these days are getting progressivly closer to the "land-tank" status. I mean really, how much do those fat kids weigh?
There aren't any statistics that are kept (I know of) of fatality rates of collisions between them and the compacts, and SUVs(which qualify as a truck for emmisions of and a car for insurance) just got a tax break at the same time gas prices are on the rise.
Sorry to the SUV lovers but I am a little biased in this regard.
On a positive note, those roads mean "JOBS"-but not right now when Fed money is being cut back and the states are already in debt. Time for an ATV for commuting?

[ChrisBennet]

Here in New Hampshire our registration fee is based on weight (or at least it used to be). It They use gross weight which seems a little weird but otherwise it seems very fair to me.
-Chris

[80sctarga]

I think our roads here are atrocious. But we need to stand up for fiscal Conservatism. Government needs to "live" within its budget. No more taxes! If the state wants to help make taxes equitable, keep the sales tax, which everyone pays based on the amount the spend. Support (instead of regulate and kill) businesses, which increase the tax base, but remove that tax from groceries, which would help the poor in a concrete way. Tax away on the luxury items! The biggest thing this state needs, however, is a reduction in the government at the state level, doing away with needless and nonsensical regulations on every aspect of life, which necessitates a bloated bureaucracy. Make a state which businesses find attractive again (instead of working so hard at running off major businesses like Boeing, the (now) Chicago-based firm which used to be a Seattle based firm. The answer to economic growth is to limit the growth of government and needless regulation, not new taxes! It would be nice if WA state legislators had more background in economics and less in political correctness.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I want nice shiny Blacktop to drive on too. Maybe if we quit doing things like sending our Governor to DC, to give the "democrats response" to the State of the Union Address, we would have the dollars to do the things that really matter, such as road maintenance.

[pwd72s]

80sc? Well said! Your current Governor is almost as tax & spend as Oregon's recently expired one. Birds of a feather, they never saw a tax or regulation they didn't like...

[hoff944]

If it is any consolation your roads might be crappy, but your state and the northwest United States is beautiful.

[island911]

The roads are intentionally left in poor repair.
Our state politicians are playing a game of show the need & divert the money. By managing the perception of “need” politicians are able to get support for additional taxes. Once the additional taxes are had, they are too often rerouted to other programs. (leaving the original “need” in tack, of course.)

What’s even more outrageous is, that with a state deficit & voters not approving new taxes, our governors solution is to the problem is to release prisoners and cut police and fire personnel. We’re so lucky, in this state, to have a govener who is so creative in his ways to threaten the voters!

[tabs]

It's all those Liberal Californians who migrated to the North West for a good cup of Joe. HA HA...It seems CA has a factory that mass produces liberals.....it's called Berkeley. Washingtonians should be gratefull for everyday that your liberal govennor is outa the state.... cause it's less damage he can do. Washington also has at least one wonderful liberal Senator.....Sarcasism......

We in California have the Grey man......who was running behind a nonenity Repblican canidate for most of the last election nite. Hope to Gawd the last election put an end to his political viability for higher office. BTW he was Moon Beam Browns something or other advisor?

Whats worse than the Grey man is the CA legislature, any crackpot liberal idea that can be imagined is passed in CA. Even the Grey man vetos thier stuff.....California is in a world of $#!+ and it's going to hit the fan real soon.....and I wana be gone from here while the getting is good. I hear ORYgon is a nice place to live.....maybe right next to PWD. NAW that would be cruel and unusal punishment....more like Nevada or Arizona....there I can own Automatic weapons...yeah!

[island911]

My Gawd; tabs in ORYgon.

You must be thinking of Washington State Senator Patty Murray, and her supportive words for BinLadin.
Please reallize she has an excuss for her ineptness. . . .it's called incompetence.