3 ms·

So I haven't voted yet, but my two concerns are the additional sales and property taxes and I don't believe that ST3 does enough, in a short enough timespan. D

by dlp211 10y ago

So I haven't voted yet, but my two concerns are the additional sales and property taxes and I don't believe that ST3 does enough, in a short enough timespan. Do you have any comments on my 2 concerns?

seattle_native 10y ago
Have you calculated out the costs for you? Sound Transit floats a misleading "average $169" figure, but for a property owner it is much higher. Do you want to own a nice car? If you buy a 100k car you are on the hook for $800 extra to Washington's already high vehicle taxes
- GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
  If you're dropping a hundred thou on a car you can afford to pay a little more in taxes.
- plandis 10y ago
  I'm not trying to attack you personally but you've stated very misleading things in your above post. If the true reason you don't support light rail is that you own luxury cars that the majority of the population cannot afford and you wouldn't ever take public transit that's fine, but don't lie to make a case.
Analemma_ 10y ago
So, I probably don't have a magic bullet argument that will win you over completely. Taxes suck and infrastructure is expensive; there's ultimately no way around that. Here is what I would offer you in the way of persuasion: - Don't forget that ST2 is still in progress and some of the projects (like the Seattle-Bellevue light rail) and their benefits are coming online within the next decade. Not all the ST3 projects will take the full forty years too - the proposed Redmond and Federal Way extensions could be completed within the decade as well. - ST3 does include several new BRT routes which will start up more quickly and ease congestion on the 405. - Congestion imposes hidden costs, especially once it gets to the levels of really bad cities like LA or DC, and we're moving in that direction. People have more economic opportunity when they can reach more of the surrounding area quickly, and better accommodate the population growth that's coming (new employees at, say, Amazon, won't have to all live downtown like they pretty much all do now). - The problems exist now (I mentioned above that commute times have doubled in 5 years. That's an official statistic from somewhere or other but it pretty much tallies with my personal experience, and it's only going up from here) and the alternative proposals are not convincing.
- dlp211 10y ago
  Thanks, I'm not against taxes, I am against taxes that tend to be regressive, eg: sales tax. I just hate that we are going to need an ST4 plan because it completely ignores everything east of Sammamish Lake.

by dlp211 10y ago

seattle_native 10y ago

Have you calculated out the costs for you? Sound Transit floats a misleading "average $169" figure, but for a property owner it is much higher. Do you want to own a nice car? If you buy a 100k car you are on the hook for $800 extra to Washington's already high vehicle taxes

GFK_of_xmaspast 10y ago
If you're dropping a hundred thou on a car you can afford to pay a little more in taxes.
plandis 10y ago
I'm not trying to attack you personally but you've stated very misleading things in your above post. If the true reason you don't support light rail is that you own luxury cars that the majority of the population cannot afford and you wouldn't ever take public transit that's fine, but don't lie to make a case.

Analemma_ 10y ago

So, I probably don't have a magic bullet argument that will win you over completely. Taxes suck and infrastructure is expensive; there's ultimately no way around that. Here is what I would offer you in the way of persuasion: - Don't forget that ST2 is still in progress and some of the projects (like the Seattle-Bellevue light rail) and their benefits are coming online within the next decade. Not all the ST3 projects will take the full forty years too - the proposed Redmond and Federal Way extensions could be completed within the decade as well. - ST3 does include several new BRT routes which will start up more quickly and ease congestion on the 405. - Congestion imposes hidden costs, especially once it gets to the levels of really bad cities like LA or DC, and we're moving in that direction. People have more economic opportunity when they can reach more of the surrounding area quickly, and better accommodate the population growth that's coming (new employees at, say, Amazon, won't have to all live downtown like they pretty much all do now). - The problems exist now (I mentioned above that commute times have doubled in 5 years. That's an official statistic from somewhere or other but it pretty much tallies with my personal experience, and it's only going up from here) and the alternative proposals are not convincing.

dlp211 10y ago
Thanks, I'm not against taxes, I am against taxes that tend to be regressive, eg: sales tax. I just hate that we are going to need an ST4 plan because it completely ignores everything east of Sammamish Lake.