Read a Pacific Northwest, liberal perspective on world, national, and local politics. From majestic Redmond, Washington - the Northwest Progressive Institute Official Blog.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Memo to Ken Schram: Please stop buying into myths about vehicle fees

For someone who says he's "no fan of Tim Eyman", Ken Schram has apparently been reading too many of the initiative salesman’s emails.

In a column about what he called "life'’s oddities" (which ran in the Reporter Newspapers last Saturday), Ken complained about the Legislature's move to allow cities and counties to levy a $20 a year vehicle fee to pay for road projects.

He wrote: "Not once; not twice, but three times voters have said they wanted $30 tabs." That's not true.

Ken is entitled to his own opinion; he isn’t entitled to his own facts.

Tim Eyman has only qualified two statewide initiatives to slash car tabs: I-695 in 1999, and I-776 in 2002. While each passed statewide (with many citizens unaware of the consequences) both failed in King County, among other jurisdictions.

A third Eyman initiative aimed at repealing fees, Initiative 917, did not qualify for the ballot last year despite support from multimillionaire Michael Dunmire.

The Tri-City Herald emphasized an important point in a recent editorial - that vehicle fees have never actually been $30 because of small service and filing expenses which add $3.75 to the total cost of renewing a car or truck's registration. The weight assessment added as part of the 2005 Transportation Package has added between $10 and $20.

And recent data indicates that the electorate doesn't mind paying reasonable vehicle fees. A poll of 800 registered voters, conducted this month, suggests that voters up and down the Sound are willing to increase the car license tab as part of a $16.5 billion Roads & Transit package. Over 60% of the respondents said they would support such an increase.

These facts undermine the whole premise of Ken's rant about the new law. What's wrong with allowing municipalities to use car tabs as a way to pay for infrastructure improvements? Nothing.

Public services cost money. Besides transportation, our taxes also fund police and fire protection, schools and libraries for learning, and parks and pools for recreation. We can’t have these things if we refuse to pay for them.

As for the Legislature and officials at the municipal level who may soon have the power to increase vehicle fees - if we don't like the decisions our elected leaders make, we can vote them out. That's what representative democracy is all about.

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