Secure funding for light rail that voters approved

Despite sour comments from the plaintiffs, the decision last week by a Pierce County Superior Court judge to dismiss a class-action lawsuit that sought to strip Sound Transit of revenue from vehicle license fees should not have been a surprise.

And the decision leaves the next step with state lawmakers, where it belongs.

Mukilteo initiative promoter Tim Eyman and six others from the Sound Transit’s three-county region, filed suit in June, seeking to eliminate the second-largest source of revenue from the transit agency’s ST3 project, which voters passed in 2016. Voters authorized a package of tax increases to complete the Link light-rail system by adding 62 miles of new line, including an extension to Everett Station by 2036 via the Paine Field industrial area. Other new light-rail destinations planned in ST3 include Tacoma, Ballard, West Seattle, downtown Redmond, south Kirkland and Issaquah.

Voters approved an increase in the car tab tax from 0.3 percent to 1.1 percent of a vehicle’s value, along with an increase in the sales tax of 50 cents for a $100 purchase and a 25-cent increase in the property tax for every $1,000 of assessed value.

Eyman and the other plaintiffs argued that the 2015 law passed by the Legislature in 2015 used an outdated formula for calculating the tax for vehicle license tabs. Along with ending that revenue stream, the lawsuit sought a refund to taxpayers of $400 million collected thus far.

Critics have argued that lawmakers and voters were duped by Sound Transit and its supporters into supporting the tax increase. A major target for that criticism has been the vehicle depreciation schedule used to assess the car tab fees. Lawmakers passed a law that does use a formula the state replaced in 2006 that assumes higher values for vehicles than the state now uses.

Still, neither lawmakers nor voters should have felt misled. An amendment to the law that would have replaced the older depreciation schedule was considered but rejected by lawmakers. And Sound Transit didn’t attempt to hide the extent of the tax increase, encouraging voters to use an online calculator that showed what the increases would mean for individuals and families. As well, media reports estimated what voters could expect if the tax increases were approved.

https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/editorial-secure-funding-for-light-rail-that-voters-approved/?utm_source=DAILY+HERALD&utm_campaign=e1057d9117-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_d81d073bb4-e1057d9117-228635337