I-976

State Measures - Initiative Measure No. 976

Initiative Measure No. 976 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. 

https://voter.votewa.gov/GenericVoterGuide.aspx?e=566&c=99#/measure/4244

Measure Text

Initiative Measure No. 976 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees.

This measure would repeal, reduce, or remove authority to impose certain vehicle taxes and fees; limit annual motor-vehicle-license fees to $30, except voter-approved charges; and base vehicle taxes on Kelley Blue Book value.

Should this measure be enacted into law?     

• Yes 

• No 

Links

• Campaign Contributions

• Full Text

Eyman I 976 limiting motor vehicle excise tax

https://ballotpedia.org/Washington_Initiative_976,_Limits_on_Motor_Vehicle_Taxes_and_Fees_Measure_(2019)

Here’s yet another Tim Eyman special. This would be Eyman the petty thief (stealing a chair from a store) and a major thief (our time, energy, taxes, and dedicated donations). 

A digression here. Government is all of us deciding what we consider important to accomplish on behalf of all of us, and then hiring the people to make that happen. The hiring process is an election and the hiring interview is the election campaign. Once hired, if those people do not do what we asked or expected of them, we fire them by electing someone else. 

Obviously, we have to pay the people we hire and to pay for the things we expect them to do. We all chip in to accomplish that. We call that chipping in paying taxes. Politics is the part where we all argue who is best for the job, what really needs doing, and how we’re going to pay for it. 

Enter Tim Eyman. He has been making a quite lucrative (and evidently somewhat illegal) living pushing initiatives to limit what taxes may be imposed and the uses to which we can put them.  He really truly hates public transit (or at least the people who pay him to run initiatives do).

His latest, I-976, would hark back to the $30.00 car tabs. That was the initiative which in a single blow nearly destroyed Island Transit and many other public transit systems by yanking away 55% of their funding. It sounded so good in the ads. Pay less for your car tabs. The effect on our transportation system was devastating – as witness the parking lot conditions of many of our major highways. 

Back when the first $30.00 car tab initiative was being debated I checked out the impact it would have on me. My dad was quite old and blind. Twice a week he used Island Transit paratransit to go to the Senior Center for their Time Together program. Without that paratransit I would have had to stop work in the morning, drive to my dad’s house, bring him to the Senior Center, come back home, work a few hours, and then do the whole trip again in reverse. That would have taken about half of my work day, twice a week – in exchange for which I would have saved less than $50.00/year on my tabs. Think about how public transit benefits you, and whether those benefits outweigh the $50.00 - $100.00/year you might save. 

I-976 would

~ limit annual license fees for vehicles under 10k lb (pretty much everything smaller than a 2.5 ton truck) to $30.00. Any increase (remember inflation?) would have to go to a statewide vote (which is very expensive).

~ base vehicle sales tax on Kelly Blue Book rather than MSRP or actual purchase price.

~ repeal local Transportation Benefit District fees. I hope you really like potholes.

~ repeal the $150.00 fee on electric vehicles. This one is contentious because we want to encourage the switch to electric. But even electric cars cause wear and tear on roads. Its got to come from somewhere.

~ repeal authorization for regional transit authorities (read Sound Transit) to impose motor vehicle excise taxes. 

I just checked the ‘fiscal impact statement’ and that pretty much says it all. ‘total revenue loss to the state in the next six years: $2,317,121.034.00. Yeah, over $2 billion lost for road repairs, public transit - and a clause requiring default on publicly financed projects dependent on those revenues. 

Here’s a statement from Mainstream Republicans of Washington: "Some 60 communities around our state, from Anacortes to Zillah, have agreed to tax themselves to fix their transportation challenges:.The state should not be allowed to override these local decisions, many of which were by direct vote of the people." 

And here’s the word from Washington Environmental Council: Tim Eyman’s Initiative 976 would repeal critical transportation money that funds the maintenance of our roads and our transit systems across the state. It would undermine our ability to invest in any improvements like expanding transit, building voter-approved projects, and improving freight corridors -- all tools for us to address our emissions.

I-976 removes $4 billion from the state’s budget to invest in pedestrian, bike, and transit efforts and cuts $60 million in funding every year for 63 cities across Washington. That means more cars on our roads and less options for all of us. That also means cutting the ability of local communities to decide how to invest in infrastructure and cut climate pollution.

Do check out the web links above. They give all the gory details.

Bottom line: do we want to be able to get around without having to get in a car and drive? Do we want our roads to work? Do we want our ferries to work? Then you need to vote NO on this Eyman boondoggle. 

I will be voting a resounding NO on I-976.