last901

Econ 101 would certainly support that, Ian, but if the users can't pay for the service, then why should the rest of us do so? Especially if it's costing the rest of us hundreds of dollars to keep it in service for the 3% who use it.

Is anone or everyone who lives in this county "entitled" to ride a bus? Then it should maybe be free? If it was free, logic says there will be more riders and therefore the price of gasoline and car maintenance should drop accordingly.

Or is the price of guns and/or butter? I am confused.

young grasshopper

Econ 101 doesn't apply when you have artificially low interest rates, no bid contracts, and certain businesses getting much more favorable tax treatment than others.

C5 Dawg

If it makes you feel any better, WA is ranked #27 in overall taxes and #11in income.http://taxfoundation.org/article/ann...anking-fy-2011 #

Mr. Peabody

What Dt86 isn't telling you is that he already pays a state income tax. I did also all the years that I lived in New York. I also paid state income tax when I lived in Connecticut, when I lived in New Jersey, when I lived in PA.

I know that I am shooting myself in the foot when I say these things and those of you in this thread who are my friends have said in the past Mark do yourself a favor and don't say these things on here but
WTF one of the nice things about getting older is that its much easier to say what you think and not really GAF. I know that those of you who like me will still like me after I have my little rant..........

I don't disagree that there is waste........ there is abuse........ there is fraud. As someone who has been an accountant and in financial management for 40 years I've seen my share of it. but I have to ask ..................... instead of just bitching about it why don't some of you get off your *** and run for political office................ you could get elected and then work towards ending some of the BS that goes on in the state govt and rectify some of what everyone is bitching about.

Oh and as long as I'm spouting remember this .......... if there is no state income tax......... the govt has to find other ways to get the money that it takes for infrastructure and while I am on my soap box let me let you in on a little secret ..... IMHO s state income tax is much much better that funding things through property taxes the way we do here.

Remember this ....... with an income tax its a lot easier to pay it whilst one is working and earning............. when you're retired and on a fixed income and the f#%$@!* property taxes go up and up and up you can literally loose your home that you've fully paid off because you can't pay the ever increasing property tax.

I'm sorry I've been working on my income taxes all day and enjoying the fruit of the vine this evening ............ and I'm off the soapbox now.......... and now that I got that out I do feel a bit better

NofakeJake

I have absolutely no problem with you voicing your opinion and hold no ill will

Just give one of us the several million dollars to run for office and we would be glad to participate. Otherwise anyone attempting to run for office would be wasting time, sucking savings from others for an almost guaranteed loss do to lack of enough funds for a competitive media blitz / campaign.

No lobbiests in my back pocket! When you don't take bribes or you aren't willing to compromise your integrity, you can't be manipulated. No money there.

So please, let's keep it real. Don't insult us by telling us to get off our ***'s. We do that by voting.

Politics and religion...

Let's move on ..

85corvettec4

theyre funding the new ferry with tab money from what i recall

ErikwithAK01

You know what really bothers me? When you go to pay taxes on a car you got a REALLY good deal on, and they force you to pay taxes on the blue book value of the car, THAT is effed up! I bought a 1982 380SL some years ago from a gal who looked up the blue book on her car, saw it was $22,000.oo and thought it was too high, so she dropped a zero from the price, and I just happened to be at her sandwich store when she parked it round front and put the sign in the window, so needless to say we shook hands before she put the sign up (It is in cherry shape mind you, not a beater). Went to go transfer the title only to discovery I owed taxes on the car amounting to the amount I PAYED for the car!!! I ended up finding a guy in the phone book doing appraisals that the DOL would honor, so for $250 I got my appraisal for realistic market value, and only ended up have to pay about $650, plus the price for the appraisal. So it worked out in the end, but it was messy, and still expensive

C5 Dawg

DOL did this because so many people were lying about their purchase prices (not that anyone around here would ever do that) and underpaying what was owed.

As voters we can make a choice to have lower taxes and less services (police, fire, roads, education, etc.) or pay more and get more. Since WA is #27 in taxes, it is apparent we have chosen to be middle of the pack.

last901

Well they're doing something, the Ferry System guys are, but any good business - yes I know it's not a true business in the sense of having business professionals run it - but if they need a new boat why didn't they plan for it and not just come begging to the taxpayers to provide the funds they should have planned for in their own planning.

I guess it's wishful thinking to hope that the gov't might be run by business people rather than a bunch of lawyers who could't get a job elsewhere.

We're only #27 in state taxes? That surprises me. Is there a website that shows the comparisons by state?

C5 Dawg

http://taxfoundation.org/article/ann...anking-fy-2011 . Just about every resident of every state believes that they have an unfair burden and have the highest taxes of all. At least there are objective ways to find out quickly.

FWIW, there's as much, or more, waste in the private segment, it's just easier to hide (no public information requests, open meetings laws, etc.). Has anyone here had a decent corporate career and cannot think of multiple examples of overpaid employees, questionable promotions, stupid purchases, and projects that were years late, grossly over budget and then underperformed? Boeing or Microsoft people want to give their thoughts on this?

last901

Wow! Thank you. I'm going to have an interesting time perusing this (though my first wife says we're going to take a vacation this week) I may have to print this out or take my laptop.

Depending on which chart you review, Washington ranks from #1 to much lower ranks depending on specifics.

Yes, I concur there is waste in the private sector as well. Fortunately the market tends to sort that out in a sort of Darwinian manner. Some of the other things you point out, like questionable promotions, stupid purchases, et al are absolutely right on and very common - if often subjective - depending on which employee gets screwed or has to fall on their petard. When private business does enough of that, they cease to exist. (or soon will, See GM, McDonnell-Douglas, Sears/K-Mart, Radio Shack, etc....)

Simply, perhaps too much so, when the government agencies screw up, they just come begging to the taxpayers for help. When's the last time you saw a public official get fired?

Will y'all allow me to suggest we shut down this thread? My ranting about my license renewal and ballot form is becoming a sort of social debate with reasonable arguments made on both (or multiple) sides. It is an argument that may be best settled by the voters or as a term paper for a college business or public administration class.

Is that okay?

Besides, I suspect we're going to start receiving messages from XC6Vette trying to forecast the weather for next Saturday.

last901

Wow! Thank you. I'm going to have an interesting time perusing this (though my first wife says we're going to take a vacation this week) I may have to print this out or take my laptop.

Depending on which chart you review, Washington ranks from #1 to much lower ranks depending on specifics.

Yes, I concur there is waste in the private sector as well. Fortunately the market tends to sort that out in a sort of Darwinian manner. Some of the other things you point out, like questionable promotions, stupid purchases, et al are absolutely right on and very common - if often subjective - depending on which employee gets screwed or has to fall on their petard. When private business does enough of that, they cease to exist. (or soon will, See GM, McDonnell-Douglas, Sears/K-Mart, Radio Shack, Poodle Girl's door to door peanut brittle franchise deal etc....)

Simply, perhaps too much so, when the government agencies screw up, they just come begging to the taxpayers for help. When's the last time you saw a public official get fired?

Will y'all allow me to suggest we shut down this thread? My ranting about my license renewal and ballot form is becoming a sort of social debate with reasonable arguments made on both (or multiple) sides. It is an argument that may be best settled by the voters or as a term paper for a college business or public administration class.

Is that okay?

Besides, I suspect we're going to start receiving messages from XC6Vette trying to forecast the weather for next Saturday.

XC6VETTE

Seriously?

Since when does the blessed Virgin Mary take you on vacation with her?

BTW I've found being right all the time is an absolute curse!

C5 Dawg

Happens at every election.

bearphoto

I got a chuckle out of the op's posting about his fees for his motorcycle. It appears his $30 registration fee is the same its been since he's owned it. The difference is the politicians are allowed to keep adding a few bucks here and there and no one gives a s%&t and allows it to pass. Pretty soon you have unreasonable fees in which you have no choice as to whether you pay or not.

But, if the op wants to get screwed just come on down to California. I lived there 58 years and bailed out of there last December. Cali has the highest state income tax and Washington has NO state income tax.

Cali pays some of the highest registration fees in the country and they add in the same bs the op is complaining about. So, in Cali, they have state income tax at 9.5% and high dmv fees and now I hear they are talking about having every car have a black box installed that will charge an additional fee for each mile driven!

I'm so glad I gtf out of there. Arizone has much cheaper fees and taxes and is a conservative state. No more liberal cali crap for me.

Mufflerbearing

Washington has also been the most expensive (taxed) state to drink in for longer than I can remember. I usually import spirits when returning from out of state trips in my wheeled conveyance.

VIK TOY

Yeh, weird that WA opened up liquor to all markets now it is more than OR or Calif. WA gas prices are more than OR also! Calif is really cheap- Bacardi is 1/2 the price of OR. OR has opening up liquor sales on the upcoming ballot (along with legalized pot) Hope both fail!! I understand WA has 40% more DUIs since pot was legalized!!

last901

I'm not so sure this is true. The Gummint is still trying to figure out how to allow people to sell the stuff. At this point I wouldn't know where to buy the it without a prescription. Well, other than "the street".

c4cruiser

Closing the WA state-run liquor stores was "supposed" to increase competition and cause prices to go down. Didn't happen. The state added more taxes and the prices went up. Costco was behind the privatization move (along with a couple players) and the funny part is that the brands that are stocked are mostly the mainstream stuff and the majority of bottles are "Costo-size".

There is a new chain opening up liquor stores around the state called Total Wine. Fantastic selection of liquor, wine, beers and some very decent prices. But what is really happening is that the small stores are being forced out because they can't compete in terms of volume. The state Liquor Control Board initially said that small stores would be able to survive. It's not looking that way.

As for pot DUI's, the state is still trying to figure out how to definitely determine if somebody is DUI with pot. From what I had read, THC levels in the blood will be the way a DUI will be determined. Blood draws simply can't be done on the side of the road by an LEO.

Or maybe the cops can look at the total number of bags of munchies in the car....

WAwatchnut

I read there's a new roadside test being implemented in WA and CO. They have you stand on one foot next to your car and count backwards from 30. Then they place a bag of Dorito's on the hood. If you can reach zero without messing up the count, tipping over, or reaching into the bag, you're good!