Voting in King County’s first all-mail election starts today.
Voting on machines designed for people with disabilities opened today at the county elections center in Renton.
Ballot drop-off boxes at the Lake Forest Park Library and in Seattle’s University District, downtown Seattle, West Seattle, Algona-Pacific, Bellevue, Black Diamond, Des Moines, Fall City and Renton will be open from 6 p.m. Friday through 8 p.m. Election Day, Feb 3. Additional handicapped-accessible machines in Bellevue and at Seattle’s Union Station will be open starting Jan 30. All voting machines and drop boxes close at 8 p.m. Election Day.
Mailed ballots must have a postmark of Feb. 3 or earlier.
The county elections office will mail ballots and voters’ pamphlets to all registered voters today through Friday.
Voting for the newly created office of elections director will be the only item on the ballot in Shoreline and Lake Forest Park.
Voters new to the state may register through Friday, Jan. 16, at the county elections center in Renton. The deadline to register by mail or online, or to change mailing addresses, was Jan. 3.
A state income tax needn’t lead to more taxes
A letter writer two weeks ago said that if we start a state income tax, we should eliminate the sales tax. Otherwise our Legislature would have two taxes that it could increase.
The answer is a constitutional limit on both taxes. Both our sales-tax rate and our property-tax rate are too high. The writer points out that, even with an income tax, a lowered sales-tax rate could creep up.
So the answer is to put firm limits in the constitution on the income tax, the sales tax and the property tax.
We have states with income taxes, states with sales taxes and states with both. Whether a state’s overall tax burden is high or low has little relation to what kind of tax system it uses. What an income tax does is make the system fairer.
Because we don’t have an income tax, we have raised sales-tax rates to outrageous levels, levels that put too much burden on those least able to pay. With local options, the sales-tax rate in King County now exceeds 10 percent. I want a constitutional amendment that caps the state’s sales tax at about 5 percent and the local rate at about 2 percent, sets a cap on property-tax rates and sets an income-tax-rate limit at a level to equal cuts in the other taxes.
A letter writer last week turned the fairness issue around, saying that an income tax punished hard work because it took from those who make money through that work.
People who have prospered because of work, talent or luck should accept a higher portion of the burden than the less fortunate, who are burdened by the sales tax.
Evan Smith is the Enterprise Forum editor. Send comments to entopinion@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
