Tolls on I-405 won’t address state’s deep budget problems

An open letter to The Washington state Legislature and the people of Washington:

On Jan. 5, 2012, The Washington state Supreme Court ruled that state Legislature had not met its constitutional duty to amply fund state basic education. On Aug. 13, 2015, The state Supreme Court held the Legislature in contempt and fined the state $100,000 per day because it failed to comply with the McCleary decision. The state, which currently has a two-year operating budget of $38.2 billion, has yet to find the money to fully fund education or infrastructure.

Washington state has no income tax, opting instead for sales tax rate between 6.5 percent and 9.5 percent (depending on your local municipality). Our average sales tax rate is 8.87 percent, leaving Washington with the fourth highest sales tax rate in the nation according to the Tax Foundation. Washington is one of only nine states without an income tax.

Instead of implementing a progressive income tax to help supplement our budgetary crisis, our Legislature went a different route.

The state opted instead to create a state-sponsored highway robbery System; or in other words: The I-405 tolling being implemented soon.

Drivers on I-405 can be expected to have to purchase a Good-To-Go Flex Pass for $15 (or get a free one with a $30 Good-To-Go Account deposit), and then pay anywhere from 75 cents to $10 to use HOV toll lanes on I-405. During rush-hour traffic, the HOV lane on I-405 will be limited to three or more vehicle occupants, and all tolled lanes will increase in rates depending on how many people use them. The point of this being to make tolls so high people won’t use the lanes, and will all sit in the non-tolled lanes, allowing those who can afford to pay freedom to get where they need to go quicker.

The I-405 tolling seems problematic from the very start, and that’s because it is. It is our legislature creating a tax on the poor, commuters, parents, workers, small business owners and others.

For those with disposable income who can afford the Good-To-Go pass and associated tolls, this isn’t a problem. But for many of us, $3 to $10 is a meal, or a few gallons of gas. And that is precious money that we can’t afford to spend every time we are going somewhere. For wage workers who can’t be late to work or else they lose their job, single parents taking their children to school, small business owners trying to get to their store fronts, this effects everyone but the very few privileged people among us. So whether you have to use I-405 or not, this should be an issue that is important to you.

Let’s put a human perspective on this tolling debacle. KIRO-TV News published an article on the I-405 tolling in which they quoted a local man named Brian Hatcher’s response to the new tolls:

“The state has literally spent millions of dollars of our money already, and now they’re going to take the two lanes that have the commuter with children, families — they’re going to take the hardest working people and they’re going to sell those lanes to the rich commuters?”

Brian sure has got a point. But he’s just one person, so how about another:

My grandfather, Jeff Davis, is the owner of a small pet food store in Kirkland. He lives in the Mukilteo and Lynwood area and has to commute to work on I-405 every single day because he works open to close in his store by himself. A man who should be retired, who can’t afford paid store help, is now going to be forced to leave even earlier in the morning in order to avoid traffic and open his store and then sit in traffic even longer at night after closing, or pay a toll. So what does the state Department of Transportation have to say to the issue of tolls adversely affecting lower income individuals?

“Today on I-405, everyone is stuck in traffic during peak periods. Express toll lanes are there when you need them. Research on existing express toll lanes in Washington and across the country shows that people of all income levels choose to pay a toll when they need a faster and more reliable trip.”

The state avoids the question, instead pointing to “evidence” that people of all income levels pay tolls out of necessity.

So why would the Legislature ever approve something like tolls on I-405? Because they are desperately in need of funds, and at this point they will do anything to secure them. This begs the question then: Why not implement a progressive income tax instead of regressive taxes like tolls? John Burbank, the executive director of the Economic Opportunity Institute, maps it out rather clearly in an opinion piece he wrote in The Herald:

“How much revenue would a progressive income tax provide for public services? First exempt $50,000 of income. Then put in place effective tax rates of 2 percent for a $100,000 household, 3.5 percent for a $200,000 household, 5 percent for a $500,000 household, 6.25 percent for a million dollar household, and 8.125 percent for a $2 million household. That would raise $7.5 billion.

Now let’s do the math: $7.5 billion in new revenue, minus $3 billion for K-12 education, minus $1.5 billion for higher education tuition, minus $500 million for early childhood education.

That leaves $2.5 billion on the table. With that, we could take a bite out of our regressive tax system by dropping the sales tax by 1.5 cents. That would cost about $1.5 billion. And that leaves $1 billion a year for other public services and a reserve.”

Implementing an income tax that exempts all earners under $50,000 a year, and goes no higher than 8.125 percent for the very top earners would fix all the educational budget issues our state has and leave room to spare. However our state opts instead to approve a measure that will negatively affect millions of commuters each year. And while only a simple majority of the Legislature had to approve this measure in order to pass it, that obviously happened. And we as voters, and citizens of the Washington state must hold them accountable for their actions and demand real change. Changes that will fix our budget, and provide for us the things we need most. We need a good education for our children, the future of this country, and repairs to our crumbling infrastructure.

Jacob Gloss is a resident of the 44th Legislative District in Snohomish County and is president of the Washington State High School Democrats of America.