Hey, Look at the RTA tax as helping clear the roads so as to make it easier to get the truck and boat to the launch. ( Like a reasonable, transit plan will every come to fruition in Puget Sound).     But I do like the thinking.  I see the little brackets for people to put their bikes on the bus, how about a bracket to put a car topper onto the bus or light rail.  I to was PISSED when I renewed my Jeep tags last year and had the License Plate replacement fee.  What a crock of crap.  I had a perfectly good and serviceable plate on there.  Actually its the State Legislatures way of getting around the Tim Eynman initiatives.  Same amount of taxes as before, just renamed and packaged differently to pass the supreme court test.  When will our governments, Fed, State, and Local, learn to live on budgets like the rest of us.  The other one that kills me is if you lose your  fishing / hunting license and need to get a new one.  You already paid the fee, just lost the paper.  But NO, they hammer with fees again.

  Ok enuf ranting and raving from me, just trying to make it until the people pick up pitch forks and go after these rat basssstards.

Mark

I would like to take that replace license fee and shuve it up there A**, well you know what I mean.

Chris Gregoire the genius beaaach of this state should get her head examined.

Russ

Be careful what you wish for, you may not have a usable transportation system in place to get you anywhere.  You are driving on an interstate road system constructed 50-60 years ago that is crumbling before your eyes.  For those that want to listen, as a county official in charge of a 25 million dollar annual budget, the fees that we see as revenue to simply MAINTAIN transportation systems is less per levy than it was twenty years ago, let alone funding to actually replace a system that is functionally obsolete.  I guess I could buy more duct tape, bailing wire and super glue in next year's budget.  I have been getting by with less for over twenty years in this State, simply based on the mill rate attached to property taxes (which has not increased in this county in the past 12 years, of which I get less than 1/10 per cent per thousand for roads and bridges, the rest goes to schools and public safety) and less than one cent per gallon on the gas tax.  Without revenues, we will be seeing our own Minneapolis bridge collapes right here in Washington.  Think about that next time you are dragging your 30k boat around the state.  Eyman can stick it where the sun does not shine.  He is a self serving watch salesman who found a loop hole in the State constitution to line his own pockets.  Everytime someone votes for one of his intitiatives, you are taking money from your kids and grandkids.  Someone has to pay to keep the roads and bridges in condition, I have no problem paying my fair share.

So next time you see your property taxes go up, don't blame transportation.  That is about schools, police, fire and special purpose districts.  I guess we could all have ourselves nuetered and spayed, then we would not need anything to survive.   

Furthermore, if you consider that construction costs have increased by over 200% the past 12 years due to the industrial age in China and India, the citizens of the US have been living high on the hog for a very long time.  The days of cheap energy and natural resources to make things like asphalt, concrete and steel are a thing of past.  Not to mention that our projects are subjected to months and  in some cases years of environmental permitting that can double the cost of a project over your morning cup of coffee.  I just get tired of people thinking that agencies maintaining road systems are swimming in Benjamin Franklin's.

I can remember those days when the government spent 20,000 bucks for a toilet seat due to all the political bs on the paper work to get that toilet seat. When the government starts to run like the private sector is when I belive there will be real change. The real problem with government is that they have no one other than themselves to answer to.

I wish they would run the Govt. like the private sector does, thats what keeps this country of ours going. I have no problem paying for services rendered for roads, schools, etc. but when the Govt. just throws the money out the door for frivilous plane trips, bailing out auto makers and such is what gets my blood boiling.

Mike I agree where did all those increased Gas Taxes go?

In Gregoires pocket.

Russ

The last gas tax increase was the "Nickel Package".  When passed it went directly to specific projects indentified by the legislature, with input from WSDOT.  An example of the projects constructed with those dollars were:

The revenue package funds 158 projects over a 10-year period. The Nickel Package includes:

5 cents per gallon gas tax increase
15 percent increase in gross weight fees on heavy trucks
0.3 percent increase in the sales tax on motor vehicles
When the projects are built, and the accompanying bonds are paid off, the five-cent-per-gallon gas tax increase will expire.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/Projects/Funding/Nickel/

Cut and paste the above link to see the projects constructed with the 2003 Nickel gas tax.

Mike - The lotto sales are a misnomer, I agree.  While the marketing approach was schools, the fact is it goes to the general fund.  Schools are in as much trouble as the transportation system for basically the same reasons, poor management.  Some school districts are doing remarkably well, especially private schools.  They pay better so they get the best teachers and administrators to operate and carry out thier business plans and education programs.  They sell their programs to folks who want the very best education for thier children and the best opportunities for them after HS.

I have to agree with most of what you are saying John.  I also think they should rename that Nickle tax the Joke tax Kirk.  That's because if we believe that the tax will expire when those projects are complete, the jokes on us.  
I can't remember exactly, but it seems to me that nickle tax was actually closer to 15 cents over the course of time.  A couple of projects I remember were the 520 bridge, the completion and widening of Rt 167 and the Seattle viaduct replacement.  None of the projects has started and they don't even have a forecastable start date.  Now we have to pay extra to use the carpool lane on 167.  I don't remember anything saying the money Smitty pays in gas tax at the pump only will enable him to use two out of the three lanes on the Valley Freeway.  
As I said the joke is on the taxpayer because of the wasted spending by a bloated greedy government.  it doesn't seem to matter a whole lot whether a legislator has an R or D after their name either.  All that seems to signify is by what method they are going to attempt to manipulate the state coffers to thier own advantage.
Oh by the way, did anyone notice that Christine Gregoire quietly lifted the state employee hiring freeze while she was in Iraq, out of the line of fire of the media here in the state.  What budget crisis?  However, the Governor  was bravely exposing herself to hostile enemy action while visiting deployed folks from the 81st Brigade of the WA. St. National Guard.
This subject is a sore spot with me and just one of the reasons I'm packing up and following Kirk over to the East Side of the Mtns. this spring.

Smitty
AKA Dune Hopper