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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (124784)	7/12/2005 1:30:12 PM
From: Neeka	Respond to of 793964

I much prefer a sales tax with NO income tax as we have here in WA. Gives me a bit more control even though our new Queen, and our dem legislature, have decided to turn the screws on that concept by adding a provision to the new (after two months in office, this was a done deal) 9 1/2 cent a gallon gas tax by attaching a clause to the transportation bill pre-empting any challenge through referendum. The people put together an initiative petition and were able to hand in over 425,000 signatures in just 32 days. Not a ‘Game Over,’ but a ‘Reset’ Jerry Cornfield of the Everett Herald quotes me in his article "Gas tax anger fuels initiative" this morning. Most of my contribution is pretty standard fare that won't be surprising or thought provoking to anyone who's been paying attention: Opponents are also angry with lawmakers who they say acted arrogantly by attaching a clause to the transportation bill pre-empting any challenge through referendum. "We didn't think this tax was done in a good way. It was an end run around the people," said Timothy Goddard of Lynnwood, a member of the Republican Roundtable and contributor to the political Web page called soundpolitics.com. And fueling gas-tax foes further is a residual frustration with the outcome of the governor's race. Goddard contended that this was a case of a Democratic-controlled Legislature driving through a tax hike while a Democrat governor held power. Had Republican Dino Rossi been in office, he argued, no increase would have occurred. "This initiative sends a message to Olympia. Though the election challenge didn't work, the people still have a voice," he said. The most important thing I have to say comes at the end of the article: "This is not just a game over. This is a reset," Goddard said. "Once it passes we'll have a chance to go back and remind the Legislature that the people have a voice, and we can begin to find something that is acceptable to more of us." This is extremely important. I have no doubt that 912 will pass--opponents can and will spend millions of dollars fighting it, but they'll only succeed in reducing the margin from "immense" to "sizable." But once it passes, we still need to think about transportation policy, and the best way to fund transportation projects. Unfortunately, it sounds like people like you and I will have to do the heavy lifting on that task, too--our elected officials have apparently exhausted their efforts. Rep. Brian Sullivan, D-Mukilteo, of the 21st District, says at the close of the article, "I really don't know what Plan B will be." That's right--Rep. Sullivan, who serves on the Transportation Committee, can only think of one way to fund roads. And, surprise, surprise, it's through a tax increase. Apparently other ideas--such as toll roads, a milage tax, or even something as groundbreaking as responsible spending--have never occurred to him. A big reason for our transportation problems is becoming pretty clear--our legislators suffer from a severe lack of imagination. Maybe that's something we can change in 2006. Cross-posted at The Flag of the World. soundpolitics.com

To: JDN who wrote (124784)	7/12/2005 1:32:02 PM
From: Neeka	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793964

Interesting heading, don't you think? The fight starts here, with corporate welfare The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's editorial writers gird for battle to protect their ferry subsidies: "Gas Tax Repeal: The fight starts here". Among the P-I's unconvincing arguments in favor of the gas tax is this one: [Business and orgainized labor] both argue that the higher tax will buy important transportation improvements throughout the state. Organized labor is of course less interested in "transportation improvements" than it is interested in increasing the number of dues paying Davis-Bacon workers. And "business" support? A quick peak at the list of donors to the shameless lying weasels at the "Keep Washington Rolling" campaign tells us who these businesses are. Most of them are beneficiaries of the massive corporate welfare program which is the 2005 transportation package, e.g. -- ACEC Washington, the state chapter of the American Council of Engineering Companies, AGC of Washington, Associated General Contractors, the Washington Asphalt Pavement Association, the Land Surveyors’ Association of Washington and Foster, Pepper and Shefelman, which would do the legal work on the construction contracts and bond financings. And then there's Boeing, whose corporate motto is "only the little people pay taxes". One corporate patron of the Keep Washington Rolling campaign whose in-kind contribution of editorial space is not listed at the PDC is the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, as its corporate motto is "only the little people comply with regulations on political speech" Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at 09:17 PM \| Comments (34) \| Email This soundpolitics.com