Seattle Times Continues Abetting Sound Transit Car Tab Mendacity.

The January 12th Seattle Times opinion page cartoon “A little pothole on the road back to Olympia” depicting the Eyman Car Tab Initiative as a ” chasm" rather than a “pothole” typifies the Times years of abetting Sound Transit mendacity regarding car tab issue.   It began with a Sound Transit 7/8/2016 post entitled: “ST3 plan would cost typical adult $169 annually or $14 per month”.

It included the following:

Here’s how much a typical adult would pay if ST3 is approved:

MVET

An adult owning the median value motor vehicle would pay an additional $43 per year in MVET if ST3 were passed. The updated calculation reflects an annual median value $5,333 of vehicles in the Sound Transit District. MVET taxes are determined by a state of Washington depreciation schedule for a specific vehicle’s model and production year. The previous calculation relied on a less representative average vehicle value of $10,135 for the more expansive tri-county area, for a significantly higher annual cost of $78 per adult. 

Yet the Times abetted Sound Transit's response to voter complaints, an April 2017 post headlined “Sound Transit 3 car tab rollback threatens light rail to Everett”:

During the campaign, Sound Transit was completely transparent about the taxes. We all knew that our car tabs would increase a lot in 2017 to help fund Sound Transit. So when the first invoices arrived, the vast majority of people just paid their tabs. But a vocal minority, with big tabs from expensive cars, took their displeasure to Olympia, hoping that the Legislature would listen to their stories and disregard the will of the people.

State Senators Steve O’ban and Dino Rossi, in a May 12, 2017 KOMOnews.com, called for special investigation as to “whether Sound Transit had engaged in a systematic effort to confuse and misrepresent the impact and cost of the Sound Transit authorization to legislators and the public."

Yet the Times abetted the following response from the Sound Transit Director of Media Relations and Public Information Communications & External Affairs, Geoff Patrick:

Sound Transit's interactions with the legislature and all of the extensive public materials related to the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure included clear and accurate information.   That the legislative language allowing regional voters to consider the Sound Transit 3 measure was extensively debated and covered by news media.

A Joel Connelly June 8^th 2017 Seattle PI article included the following:

        A survey by Moore Information, the venerable Portland-based polling firm with Republican and business clients, shows that ST3 would get only 37 percent support were voters given a do-over.

Thus it’s likely there would have been no ST3 without Sound Transit car tab mendacity.  Yet the ST3 package, approved by the legislature in 2015 was for $15 billion, responding to a Sound Transit Board request for an additional $1 billion a year for 15 years.  Still the Times abetted Sound Transit using that legislation to gain voter approval of $54 billion in ST3 taxes in 2016. 

Tim Eyman’s Initiative 976 was a response to vehicle owners outraged by the higher car-tab bills from Sound Transit overvaluing some vehicles compared to the commonly used Kelley Blue Book.  It was included in the Voters Ballot as

Initiative Measure No. 976 concerns motor vehicle taxes and fees. This measure would repeal, reduce or remove authority to impose certain vehicle taxes and fees; limit annual motor vehicle-license fees to $30, except voter-approved charges; and base vehicle taxes on Kelley Blue Book value.

That seemed like a pretty straightforward attempt to inform voters what the initiative would do if approved.  Sound Transit’s response was I-976 wouId add 20 years to light rail completion despite the fact the $6.5 billion only makes up about 10% of their 2019 budgets $64 billion in taxes by 2041.  King County Metro responded with the following:

It is difficult to definitively determine the effects of the initiative because its implementation will rely on future decisions of the Legislature, city councils, and Sound Transit Board, and resolution of any potential legal challenges. That being said, absent replacement funds, the passage of I-976 could potentially result in ……..(a list of some 20 items)

When voters approved I-976 the Times claimed King County reaffirmed voter support for Sound Transit despite the fact all of the opposition ads were about “Bridge Safety” not funding light rail extensions.  The concern “passage of I-976 could potentially result in" became in the Plaintiffs Complaint, “Findings of Fact” to a judge.

If I-976 takes effect on December 5,2019 and is thereafter implemented, such acts will result in the following immediate, irreparable harms to Plaintiffs (essentially King Country Metro concerns)

The judge concurred with the Plaintiff’s “immediate, irreparable harm” concerns, and the Plaintiff’s “Complaint” “I-976 is a poorly drafted hodge-podge that violates multiple provisions of the Constitution”.   It’s an argument only Sound Transit lawyers and judges can make and the Seattle Times can abide.  The entire area will continue to pay the tabs as a result.