Mennis

With lawmakers working bills through the legislature that would expand tax authority for Transportation Benefit Districts (TBDs) it is important to explain what is wrong with them.

A bill that proposes a constitutional amendment to protect oil tax revenue for highway purposes has bipartisan support and is flying through the legislature. Proposed on February 3rd, the bill has already passed the Transportation Committee and will now be considered by the full House.

Andrew Austin at the Transportation Choices Coalition responds to my recent study that shows public transit is not underfunded in Washington State. Austin takes the opposite approach and claims transit is underfunded and that agencies need even MORE public subsidies, this time from the state.

Is the Governor’s proposed oil barrel tax dead? Senator Mary Margaret Haugen, Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee thinks it is.

During her remarks this morning at the Washington State Good Roads and Transportation Association in Olympia, Sen. Haugen bucked most in her party who think the charge is a fee and said she believes it is actually a tax.

She also said it will be challenged on the floor and based on Lt. Governor Brad Owen’s past rulings on tax vs. fee issues, he will likely also rule the $1.50 charge is a tax.

The State Auditor's Office has selected Talbot, Korvola & Warwick, LLP (TKW), in conjunction with Delcan Corporation to conduct the performance audit of Sound Transit.

In its proposal, the company says its approach will include the following scope of questions:

1. Has Sound Transit implemented the State Auditor’s recommendations from the prior performance audit in time to benefit Sound Transit 2, which was approved by voters on November 4, 2008? If not, how was ST2 affected?

A common problem in some countries is passengers riding on the roofs of trains because there is not enough room inside. So instead of adding more train cars, officials in Indonesia have a different approach....stringing concrete balls across the tracks to presumably knock people off if they decide to hitch a ride on the roof. Read the article and watch the video. 

Meanwhile, Sound Transit officials have more pressing problems...Light-rail riders drop their pants to lift spirits.

Today, the Washington State Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the tribal gas tax case.

Washington Policy Center filed an Amicus Brief on this case encouraging the court to accept direct review (which they did). WPC also conducted a statewide study that found tribal gas stations use their unfair tax advantage to undercut the price of fuel at private gas stations. Washington drivers lose about $30 million per year in gas taxes to Indian tribes.