What next, toll booths?

Last year, the citizens of Washington voted to pass Initiative 695, which significantly reduced the motor vehicle excise tax. A portion of this tax was used to support public transit and this funding source is gone. Tim Eyman is now attempting to redirect the remaining tax source that was voted by local communities to specifically support public transportation. Initiative 745 will mandate that 90 percent of taxes collected for public transportation be redirected for the construction of new roads.

Initiative 745 doesn’t make sense. Initiative 695 reduced the motor vehicle excise tax and took away money that was used for transportation projects. Now Eyman wants to take away public transportation money (through I-745) to replace the money that was lost through the reduction of the motor vehicle excise tax. It is very questionable if public transit will survive with a 90 percent reduction in tax revenue. If it doesn’t, then the taxes that were voted to specifically fund public transportation would be repealed. As such, all the money that Mr. Eyman believes will be available for road construction won’t be there. It then follows that all the roads that Mr. Eyman envisions will not be built. In the meantime, we will have forced those citizens who use public transportation into their private vehicles, thereby increasing the number of vehicles on the road. I don’t understand how this will relieve traffic congestion.

I’ve heard all the rhetoric about user fees and how only the users of public transit should pay for the service. The same argument could be made for those people who drive their vehicles on our public roadways. Anyone want to vote to put up toll booths on every street in Washington?

Everett

Talk to us

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Thursday, June 8

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Phlebotomist Heather Evans preps JaNeen Aagaard a donation at Bloodworks NW Friday afternoon in Everett at July 3o, 2021.  (Kevin Clark / The Herald)
Editorial: Get back in (or start) your habit of giving blood

The pandemic’s effects and fewer younger donors too often leave blood supplies dangerously low.

Comment: After LIV-PGA merger, Saudis are just getting started

The money from their wealth fund may prove irresistible to other sports organizations in the U.S.

Comment: Feuding Russian forces point to problems for Putin

Infighting among Russia units, mercenaries and irregulars raises doubts amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Comment: We should worry more about AI’s creators than AI itself

Their warnings of an ‘extinction threat’ are part marketing tool and part effort to avoid scrutiny.

Comment: Expect battles as Oklahoma lowers church-state wall

State funding of a Catholic school may require the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the establishment clause.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Wednesday, June 7

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

Lummi Tribal members Ellie Kinley, left, and Raynell Morris, president and vice president of the non-profit Sacred Lands Conservancy known as Sacred Sea, lead a prayer for the repatriation of southern resident orca Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut — who has lived and performed at the Miami Seaquarium for over 50 years — to her home waters of the Salish Sea at a gathering Sunday, March 20, 2022, at the sacred site of Cherry Point in Whatcom County, Wash.

The Bellingham Herald
Editorial: What it will require to bring Tokitae home

Bringing home the last captive orca requires expanded efforts to restore the killer whales’ habitat.

A map of the I-5/SR 529 Interchange project on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Set your muscle memory for work zone speed cameras

Starting next summer, not slowing down in highway work zones can result in a $500 fine.

Most Read