Washington’s tax structure is kooky, weird, unfair, backwards, punishing… I can go on with adjectives, or I can just show you.
Let’s look at a Rich Guy. He makes $10 million a year and lives in a $2 million mansion on the beach. He pays zero in income tax to the state of Washington and about $10,000 in property taxes. Now we have and Average Joe. He makes about $50 thousand a year and also pays no income tax to the state. He owns a modest home valued at $300,000 and pays about $3,500 in property taxes to the state. Rich Guy makes 200 times the income of Average Joe and yet pays less than 3 times the property tax!
Our tax system is terrible and is exactly why the state is having budget issues. We need to reduce property and sales taxes (taxes that inversely affect poor to middle income individuals) and institute a state income/payroll tax. The wealthy in our state have made their millions namely because of the infrastructure our taxes have paid for. If it wasn’t for the reduced risk of investment that is a direct result of tax dollars invested into our ports, roads, schools, police, etc… no one would be able to accumulate wealth.
Our tax dollars enable people to be rich by paying for things they couldn’t do on their own. It is time for the same rich to start paying their fair share and ease up on the burden suffered by bottom 98%
The Washington State Ferry system is incredibly underfunded. As the debate rages over how we are going to pay for a new $4.5 billion 520 floating bridge we are having a hard time finding funding for our state ferries. $4.5 billion could put a new boat on every run and operate the system for decades. Yet, our boats’ maintenance is lacking. When was the last time a rust prone ferry was even repainted? Ferries in Washington provide 80 years of service. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge isn’t even 50 years old and we need to replace it.
The Washington State ferry is king!
Our priorities are screwed up, not that we don’t need a new 520 bridge, but that we pay $15 per vehicle and $7 per passenger and yet people on the Eastside are complaining about tolls of $1-$5 per vehicle. The ferries move the same number of passengers as a new 520 bridge would, and do so while saving fuel (compared to the 70 thousand vehicles a day that would have to theoretically drive that same distance that is currently covered by the ferries). The Ferries are uniquely identified with our state and are a large tourist draw. We need to treat our ferries better and make them more affordable for everyone.
Just think what those on the Eastside would be saying if they had to pay $30 per vehicle each way to cover the construction costs on both I-90 and 520!
The Boston metropolitan area has 50 world class 4-year institutions. The Entire State of Washington has what, 15?
Washington State is growing faster than our universities and we are, quite frankly, out of space. Our state 4-year institutions are maxed out. The main reason is because the University of Washington doesn’t want competition for research dollars, thus won’t allow full-scale branch campuses to develop. Sure they have a few classes at a campus in Tacoma and some at a campus in Bothell; but they will never allow something like a new med school to be built.
The UW should be proud of the fact that they receive more research dollars than any institution on planet Earth. Way to go! It just doesn’t serve all who need it. Kitsap County, specifically Bremerton is a perfect location for a large-scale public research university. Our proximity to the Naval Shipyard, Bangor, and Keyport, means we could fight for DARPA money and other defense research contracts.
The baby boomers are getting old and we need doctors more than at any time in our history. Where are they going to come from? We should morph Harrison into a teaching hospital and let’s construct a university with a medical program! Kitsap County was about to spend $900 million on a NASCAR track that would be used once a year; why aren’t we willing to spend that same money on educating our future generations every day of the year?
From geology to marine science to biotech to forestry, Kitsap County offers a unique ability to draw quality students and faculty from around the world.
An economy is defined by four things: The movements of goods, people, information, and capital. A 21st century economy cannot rely upon the infrastructure of the last century. If the infrastructure stagnates then the economy stagnates.
Kitsap county (heck, every community on Earth for that matter) needs to start planning for what we are going to do when fuel prices reach $10 a gallon or more. We need to start constructing light rail to move our 300,000 residents around without the use of an automobile. Rail lines from the Bainbridge ferry to Tacoma, connecting Suquamish, Poulsbo, Silverdale, Bremerton, Port Orchard and Gig Harbor along the way are needed. Including a way to get shipyard workers from Belfair to the yard in Bremerton (anyone who has been in downtown Bremerton knows what a traffic nightmare shift change at the yard can be; couple that with the ferry getting out, and yikes!).
A project like this is expensive, but you do you know what is more expensive? Building it when gas does cost $10 a gallon!
We have options. Our neighbors in Port Angeles have a little company called LevX that designs mag-lev trains that require little energy and are relatively inexpensive to build. We can’t wait for someone to do these things for us. To be great, we must do great things!
Houston Wade for State House
Heck Yes!
That’s right, folks. I’ve thrown my hat into the ring and am in the running for the Washington State House of representatives. Our elected legislator from the 23rd district has been appointed to the state senate and now her seat needs an appointment. Who better to for the job than this guy?
Come to the Eagle’s Nest Conference room at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds at 2pm on Sunday September 11th and show your support. There Houston, and the five other applicants for the position, will be interviewed by the precinct committee officers of the 23rd district and they will select their top three candidates. Those candidates will be sent along to the Kitsap County commissioners where the final decision will be made. Will it be me? Come and find out!
What are my qualifications for office, you ask? Well, not any different than anyone else’s qualifications. I am incredibly smart, motivated, and not scared to fight for what is right. That sounds kind of subjective, right? Let’s lay out some concrete ideas I want to see come into fruition; then maybe you will see where I am coming from… In the next post!
