So you don't think it was manipulative at all?
That the tax is based on fair market place value of the car, and that the language used was easily understandable as to how much the fee would increase?
I read things for it, and then I read things against it. Based on what I read, and my own feelings I did vote for it. I'm a strong proponent of public transportation for lots of different reasons. So my nature inclination is to vote for it even if it costs me a little bit of money. Autonomous cars are not a slam dunk solution so I'm not going to give my wallet the easy out.
Very honest reply. I am not a citizen, so can't vote, but I would have been fooled the same way.
What really irritates me is the total amateurism of our Transit organisation.
- The west seattle-ballard rail was voted in and out every year for so long. it never sticks, on decision or another. At some point they started buying properties, then had to sell them back, and refund car license taxes.
- The way HOV lanes are handled (many double payments, complex rules on 405, the fact that you need a new to use the 405 line a few years after rolling out transponders for 520, etc.... )
I lost trust in this organisation, so of course I am not happy seeing the steep increase (I dodge this year's by literally 2 days, my tabs are expiring tomorrow !!!) as I don't trust it will give us anything.
With the amount of push back these days, i expect this to be repelled next year.
Now, when I look at our Transit system,
I was talking to a coworker about this earlier this week and he reminded me of the monorail that when he was living in Seattle in the earlier to mid 2000s, he'd paid into via car tags for two years with no monorail development in the end.
Did he forget to mention that they refunded the taxes when the project was cancelled ? They bought then resold properties for a profit, and the year after that the license tabs were much much cheaper. Not sure (probably not) it was a 1-1 refund, but still