|
|
|
 |
|
Home / Washington Business - February 2006 / Points of View: Taxpayers Are Entitled to $30 Car Tabs |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Points of View: Taxpayers Are Entitled to $30 Car Tabs |
|
|
|
Written On: February 2006 |
|
|
|
Written By: by Tim Eyman - Co-sponsor, SaveOur30Tabs.com Initiative |
|
|
|
We're entitled to $30 tabs because the voters have twice approved initiatives requiring $30 tabs. Those two votes of the people were moral contracts between the citizens and their representatives. Those votes should have been respected. It is contemptible that state and local governments, especially Sound Transit, are spitting in the face of voters and forcing a third $30 tabs initiative to be sponsored.
If politicians had listened to the voters, SaveOur30Tabs.com Initiative would not be necessary.
We're entitled to $30 tabs because Olympia unambiguously promised they'd keep vehicle tabs at no more than $30. The vote was 84-13 in the state house, 39-9 in the state senate, and was promptly signed into law by then-Gov. Gary Locke. Locke summed up Olympia's promise: "We should carry out the people's will and make sure that we keep the tabs at $30."
If politicians had kept their promises, SaveOur30Tabs.com Initiative would not be necessary.
We're entitled to $30 tabs because vehicle owners are already paying more than their fair share. We pay a massive sales tax when we buy our vehicles, and we pay a huge gas tax when we use our vehicles. Monthly payments for our vehicles are a big chunk of family budgets, as are insurance, maintenance, repairs, parking and tires. For people who want heavier vehicles to pay more, they already do because of the gas tax. For people who want expensive vehicles to pay more, they already do because of the sales tax. We already pay more than our fair share for our vehicles.
If politicians had one ounce of compassion for the average taxpayer, SaveOur30Tabs.com Initiative would not be necessary.
We're already hearing the usual threats, lies and scare tactics about SaveOur30Tabs.com Initiative. These predictions of doom and gloom are laughable. State and local governments spend more than $40 billion every year. SaveOur30Tabs.com affects less than 1 percent of government spending. It's a drop in the bucket. And again, these are revenues that state and local governments are not legally or morally entitled to. They shouldn't be imposing these taxes in the first place.
Even with $30 tabs, taxpayers are already paying more than their fair share. Washington is the 8th highest taxed state in the nation. We're forced to pay one of the highest sales taxes in the nation. One of the largest gas taxes in the nation. We've got skyrocketing property tax bills. Business taxes, utility taxes, telephone taxes. Our state's crushing tax burden has working families and senior citizens struggling.
During these times when family budgets are stretched to the limit, Olympia is gorging itself on tax money. Fiscal restraint has been chucked out the window. Last year's session involved a spending orgy unprecedented in our state's history. Priorities of Government was replaced with Pig-Out on Government. This year, it's only going to get worse since state government overcharged the taxpayers by a whopping $1.6 billion. This massive tax surplus has become Olympia's special interest slush fund. "Should we spend it now or should we spend it later?" is the only thing we're hearing in Olympia.
That $1.6 billion tax surplus is not the government's money, it's the taxpayers' money. We've been overcharged $1.6 billion — we deserve 100 percent of it back. Every dollar, every penny. But if Olympia is just too greedy to part with 100 percent of it, or 50 percent, or even 25 percent of our money, then at least the passage of SaveOur30Tabs.com ensures about 10 percent gets refunded to average taxpayers in Washington.
How can politicians look us in the eye and say that it's unfair to return 10 percent of the massive $1.6 billion surplus to the taxpayers? The answer is they can't.
In 2006, we're fighting to save our $30 tabs. Don't let politicians ignore our two votes, break their promises, and allow vehicle tabs to once again become obscenely expensive. We're entitled to $30 tabs. Help us protect taxpayers this year with SaveOur30Tabs.com.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
