Property tax

greenspun.com : LUSENET : I-695 Thirty Dollar License Tab Initiative : One Thread

Has anyone ever thought of an initiative repealing the property tax collected by port districts in the State of Washington (e.g. Port of Seattle)? The Port of Seattle should be a self-sustaining enterprise, and not subsisting off the taxpayers. If the Port is run like a business, it should be supported by the private sector. Evert time there is an election, candidates for port commissioner talk blah blah blah about how the property tax should be lowered or abolished, then they conveniently forget about it once elected.

-- Jack Lattemann (73052.1202@compuserve.com), May 12, 2000

Answers

I believe the rational is that about 25% of the jobs in the area are directly or indirectly related to foreign trade, and that continued support for trade is good for everyone. Sometimes a small tax actually puts money into your pocket in one way or another.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), July 06, 2000.

"I believe the rational is that about 25% of the jobs in the area are directly or indirectly related to foreign trade, and that continued support for trade is good for everyone" Except for retirees on fixed incomes who are getting hurt more and more by rising costs, rising taxes, rising congestion, and would be just as happy to have the 70s back.

All of you continually debate how to handle the congestion and the sprawl and the conversion of farmland to houses and apartments and the air pollution and the effect on the salmon.

Maybe the answer is less trade and less jobs and less people.
For retirees on fixed incomes, fewer people may be a Godsend, in holding down our cost of living. I see in the paper today that Seattle just gave out $6.4 million in assistance for cheaper housing. Maybe if the area had less business and less population, housing would be cheaper for everyone.


-- Roy Parsons (parsons_rl@silvernet.com), July 06, 2000.

Roy:

Perhaps what we need is a good war or epidemic to eliminate all the excess people that seem to be causing all the trouble around here. Most people consider a strong and growing economy to be a good thing, and necessary to help accomodate the population that will grow with or without your consent.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), July 06, 2000.


"Most people consider a strong and growing economy to be a good thing, and necessary to help accomodate the population that will grow with or without your consent. "

You may be right about "most people" but a larger group of us than you think would just as soon have the old Puget Sound region back. The population growth that is fueled by the "strong and growing economy" is what is causing most of the problems that everyone complains about. Maybe giving up the "strong and growing economy" is a reasonable trade for a region with less congestion, less air pollution, less taxes, and less people. Not everyone wants to live in LA or New York.


-- Roy Parsons (parsons_rl@silvernet.com), July 06, 2000.

Roy,

I agree that I would also like the best of the old Puget Sound back, but I also want my four kids to find jobs and my neighbors to have an adequate income to help pay for the services we get in this area. There are places in the U.S. that still operate like they did in the 60's and 70's. I was recently in rural Pennsylvania, and that was close. I wouldn't want to live there, even though you can still buy a nice house for $40,000 and pay less than $500/year in property taxes. I wouldn't want to live in much of rural Washington either, for the same reasons. What makes the Puget Sound region attractive as a place to live and work, RESULTS FROM the people and the business activity. The trees, and the weather, and the view of the mountains helps too. Make it unattractive for others, and it will be unattractive to US.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), July 07, 2000.



"Make it unattractive for others, and it will be unattractive to US."

This isn't about making it unattractive to anyone. But there is such a thing as simplifying.

The US is full of places that started out nice, but were spoiled by too many people trying to enjoy them. Maybe the price for all the prosperity is just too much. Maybe we'd be a lot better off with a cooler economy and 10% less people. Maybe a sustainable quality Puget Sound region can only hold 1.5 million.

How big do YOU think it can grow without turning sour? I think we are there now.

-- Roy Parsons (parsons_rl@silvernet.com), July 07, 2000.

Hey Roy-

You any relation to Emmett Watson?

Emmett Watson

the craigster

-- (craigcar@crosswinds.net), July 07, 2000.


"You any relation to Emmett Watson?"

Ahh, the only "journalist" that ever caused me to write a complaint letter to the editor (alas, it was never published). Specifically, I complained because he wrote the same article (content-wise) 3 times in a five or six month period. IIRC, I asked if he had pictures of the managing editor butt-naked with his secretary and if that was why he was allowed to regurgitate the same crap over and over. Hmmm, come to think of it, that's probably why the letter was never published.

-- Brad (knotwell@my-deja.com), July 08, 2000.


Roy,

How many? As many as move here, or are born here and grow up to have families of their own. It is still a free country. I assume the local natives thought enough people lived here when the first european settlers moved in. When were New York and Los Angeles all "full up"? Sorry, it doesn't work that way. There are no limits on local population, as there are no limits on national or world population. The big debate is whether to incourage infilling and increased density, or to permit spread into areas more distant from urban centers. No one seriously expects to stop growth. I personally don't like government making those choices for us, any more than is absolutely necessary.

I find that many of those most vocal that the door ought to be closed now, are those that just get in the door themselves. They moved into what is, and don't want it to change even though they were a part of the change a few years earlier. After you are in one place for 20 or 30 years, you begin to recognize that change and growth occur non-stop. You may be an exception.

-- dbvz (dbvz@wa.freei.net), July 08, 2000.


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