Today's Seattle Times reports that the financially implausible Seattle Monorail Project has its own secret police force to spy on those who won't be suckered into paying for the nutty scheme:
Thousands of people may be dodging the Seattle-only tax, according to the agency, by registering their vehicles outside the city. That has prompted monorail officials — charged with building the city's biggest-ever public-works project — to start comparing addresses on vehicle-registration forms with those on telephone records, driver's licenses and voter databases.Unfortunately for the Moronorail extortionists, the Monorail tax is unenforceable. The enabling legislation for the Seattle Monorail Project, RCW 35.95A.080 gives it the authority to
levy and collect a special excise tax not exceeding two and one-half percent on the value of every motor vehicle owned by a resident of the authority area for the privilege of using a motor vehicle.Unfortunately (for the Monorail) the legislation does not specify a collection mechanism, a penalty for non-compliance, or for that matter, a definition of "resident" for purpose of assessing the tax. As we learned with the case of Dr. Strangevote who's been voting as a "resident" of Seattle for the last 14 years even as he's been a physical resident of Atlanta, GA, it appears to be notoriously difficult under Washington law to refute a person's assertion of residence. The Times article quotes a wise commentator:
project opponent Stefan Sharkansky called the SMP's practices "pretty creepy."Those who wish to help pay for the Monorail are free to do so. I can't and won't give legal advice, but I suspect that someone who wishes to opt out of paying for the idiotic Monorail scam would not have too much trouble finding a legal way to avoid the tax. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 23, 2005 10:38 AM | Email This"It's Big Brother. It wasn't contemplated when the people of Seattle passed the measure in 2002," said Sharkansky, publisher of the conservative blog, soundpolitics.org.
And it seems that some other commenters here need to learn the difference between "tax evasion" and "tax avoidance", and why the latter is perfectly legal. (And that "tax avoision" is an issue only in New Joisey.)
Posted by: Raoul Ortega on May 23, 2005 11:50 AMThere is no way to stop people from registering their car whereever the hell they want to. Are they going to say that it is illegal for people to have 2 different homes? How do you enforce that if one of the homes is outside the city? Worse, how do you enforce that if one of the homes is outside the state.
Shark is right. The monorail must DIE.
Posted by: DeadManVoting (aka Iguana) on May 23, 2005 02:01 PMLike Robnix, I think this valuation mechanism is joke. We’ve got 4 vehicles (the newest is a ‘97) and still get the shaft. IMHO these cretins are clueless. We’ve got a car that’s not on their list because it has depreciated off their schedule. KBB places the value around $12,000. Missed revenue. If they used KBB or NADA and exempted the first $10K they’d probably get lower individual vehicle fees, but increase the number of vehicles subject to the tax and most likely compliance because most of us suckers would view it as “fair”. Don’t get me wrong, I hate this project and am hoping for two things. 1.) a successful challenge of the Authority Area issue and 2.) the inability of the project to continue due to a lack of financial viability.
Like Robnix, I think this valuation mechanism is joke. We’ve got 4 vehicles (the newest is a ‘97) and still get the shaft. IMHO these cretins are clueless. We’ve got a car that’s not on their list because it has depreciated off their schedule. KBB places the value around $12,000. Missed revenue. If they used KBB or NADA and exempted the first $10K they’d probably get lower individual vehicle fees, but increase the number of vehicles subject to the tax and most likely compliance because most of us suckers would view it as “fair”. Don’t get me wrong, I hate this project and am hoping for two things. 1.) a successful challenge of the Authority Area issue and 2.) the inability of the project to continue due to a lack of financial viability.
Like Robnix, I think this valuation mechanism is joke. We’ve got 4 vehicles (the newest is a ‘97) and still get the shaft. IMHO these cretins are clueless. We’ve got a car that’s not on their list because it has depreciated off their schedule. KBB places the value around $12,000. Missed revenue. If they used KBB or NADA and exempted the first $10K they’d probably get lower individual vehicle fees, but increase the number of vehicles subject to the tax and most likely compliance because most of us suckers would view it as “fair”. Don’t get me wrong, I hate this project and am hoping for two things. 1.) a successful challenge of the Authority Area issue and 2.) the inability of the project to continue due to a lack of financial viability.
This home is listed as his ‘primary residence.’
California is no longer his primary residence he spends the weekends in Tahoe and goes there every Thursday or Friday.
What he saves in State taxes alone makes the house note. As taxes + fees fees fees increased in the Bay area he said he kept thinking about it, when he had an accountant look into it he said he couldn’t find a place in Tahoe fast enough.
It's not the KGB. It's having some staff people look over the records and identify folks who have changed registrations over the last year.
They're not the IRS. They can't audit people. I'm not even sure they can penalize someone. They can ask questions, and potentially turn a name over to the Dept. of Licensing.
The Monorail Project doesn't have a tax enforcement arm. They didn't create the MVET tax valuation table, they don't collect it, and they don't administer it.
Do I get to pay my housekeeper under the table because I want to evade federal taxes? Can I evade my income tax because I think the IRS unfairly assesses my income?
The fact that it is EASY to evade this tax, or that The Seattle Times which you hate so much practically walked people through the steps to evade the tax in an old story last year, still doesn't make it okay or legal to not pay voter-approved taxes.
Posted by: FoM Prez on May 23, 2005 04:46 PMSo I watch with amusement the contortions that the lefties go through to cluck-cluck those who strive to avoid the insipid monorail tax.
The left, notorious for (inaccurately) identifying themselves with such famous anecdotes of history as the civil rights of the sixties, the demise of the cold war, and even the Boston Tea Party, want to wrap themselves up in some sort of flag (it can't be the American flag, because that would be like sunshine to a vampire) and proclaim their indignation that anyone would dare to resist being plucked and phucked for their socialistic schemes.
Poor poor doltish, stupid, clueless liberals ;'}
Posted by: alphabet soup on May 23, 2005 08:25 PMThis is hardly suprising considering how shady the SMP has become. The financing was dubious to begin with and is now just a hallucination.
They've already turned the DOL into their secret police reporting those who try to wriggle out paying for a project that they would never ride if by some miracle it ever got built.
SMP would have to extort a thousands of bucks from every household in Seattle for many years to pay this monstrosity. I won't put it beyond them to try.
The perils of a pure democracy are well known. What protection do we have against a group of fanatics voting us into economic slavery?
Posted by: Bill K. on May 23, 2005 11:23 PMNewer cars are more expensive?
Yet produce less emission.
Why not tax the buss riders?
Are they not the ones who are going to use it?
How is $600.00 dollars reasonable?
Most states charge on Size and Weight of vehicle, i.e. the more your vehicle causes wear and tear, the more you pay.
Not to mention most states charge a state tax that goes to the D.O.T.
Perhaps that is where the problem lies. For instance to live in seattle is more expensive, thus the cost of living is more, the more people who use the system the weaker the sytem becomes. I would love to live in Monocco, but am damn sure that they would kick my ass out if I could not afford to live there, so why do we cater to those who refuse to live within their means? Instead destroying others quality of life?
How are the supporters of the monorail any different then the junkies littered across the city, they want to move into your house, eat your food, wear your clothes, but not help pay. Why won't you pay for their lives, because the same reason people respondsible enough to own a car, take care of it, pay insurance, and work their ass off to afford that "luxury" of driving their own auto, DO NOT want to pay for people who want a free ride.
MAYBE THEY SHOULD BUILD THE MONORAIL STRAGHT TO MEXICO AND SEND ALL THOSE WHO WOULD RIDE IT DOWN THERE AND BRING BACK PEOPLE WHO ARE WILLING TO EARN THERE PLACE IN SOCIETY?
Nothing more then a scam by a two party system, eat peoples money and take your control away.
didnt someone say something about the revolution not being televised???...
Posted by: curious george on May 28, 2005 10:16 PMDOH!
Posted by: Homer J Simpson on May 28, 2005 10:23 PM