Letter: Homeowners can’t afford Sound Transit’s proposal

Published 1:30 am Sunday, October 16, 2016

Every homeowner and vehicle owner in their right mind should vote no on ST3. This is a $54 billion tax on those who will never get any value from it or use it. An important perspective on the cost is it is estimated that it will only remove 32,000 drivers from the road. This equates to over $1.5 million per driver removed from the road.

This will cost every adult a minimum of $169 a year until past the time it is completed in 2041. For my family with six adults this is over $25,000 in taxes we will never use. The individuals using light rail are mostly moved from buses to the light rail and not removing more from the road.

Remember the $30 vehicle tab fee, which passed overwhelmingly? I just registered my vehicle and it is well above $70 and ST3 will increase that another $80 per $10,000 per vehicle. If this passes, anyone who has purchased a typically median priced car of $20,000, the registration fee will easily surpass $200. What happened to the $30 fees?

When will Washington home and vehicle owners recognize that we are the ATM for anything our state government needs rather than cutting waste and living on a budget? The argument the opposition continues to use is that our population is increasing and we need to adjust for this increase by increasing taxes. This is flawed logic, as for every new resident in Washington, who buys a house or car, or is driving on the road, is now adding to the tax roll by paying those taxes on those items.

The initiative is way too expensive, putting way too much of a burden on those who will not use it and are already over-taxed by every level of government.

Ken George

Everett