Local car tab taxes upheld

Lawmakers split on possible move to repeal added charges

BRAD SHANNON, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, February 15, 2002

OLYMPIA -- A divided state Supreme Court left the door open Thursday for local transit agencies in Washington to collect an excise tax on motor vehicles on top of the $33 license tab fee.

The ruling, released Thursday, dealt with a law passed by the Legislature in 2000 to preserve $30 car tabs. The legislation came after Initiative 695 -- which repealed the motor vehicle excise tax -- was ruled unconstitutional.

"In a nutshell, the court's decision means that local transit agencies still have the ability to decide whether to levy and collect the special excise tax," said Mark Lee, a Bellingham lawyer who represented the Amalgamated Transit Union in the suit.

Eyman reaction

I-695's sponsors, including Monte Benham and Tim Eyman, issued a statement.

"Vehicle license tabs will skyrocket because of today's Supreme Court ruling," they wrote, adding that they think it will help their latest proposal, I-776, which proposes to cap license tabs at $30 statewide.

No one was jumping to collect the tax Thursday, however, as word of the 6-3 ruling circulated in the halls of the Legislature and in transit agencies around the state.

At Thurston County's Intercity Transit, which cut its budget by about 40 percent after I-695, no decision has been made on whether to try collecting the tax, said Mike Harbour, general manager.

"At this point it's hard to know" what step IT's board will take, he said. "We'll be talking to our attorney in the next day or so about what it does mean. We'll be talking to our authority next week."

Dave O'Connell, general manager for Mason County Transit, said: "Because of public sentiment, I don't think we'd be wise to look to it as an option."

Voter sentiment against car taxes was high in rural areas such as his, O'Connell said.

If transit agencies were interested, the Department of Licensing might need six months or longer to put together a system to collect the money, agency spokesman Brad Benfield said Thursday.

"We don't know for sure how long it's going to take to get a new program for collecting this money in place. It's not going to be tomorrow or even next month. Our best estimate right now is six to nine months," Benfield said.

"Basically what we're going to have to do is create a system from scratch. This tax has never been collected on a per-vehicle basis before," Benfield said.

Politicians react

Lawmakers had mixed reactions to the ruling. The Senate has already approved a measure, Senate Bill 6036, that would repeal the tax.

But House Speaker Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, said he wanted to read the ruling before commenting on whether House lawmakers would want to approve the Senate bill.

House Deputy Minority Leader Dave Mastin, R-Walla Walla, said the tax should be repealed and predicted there would be 70 House votes for the bill if Chopp puts it on the floor.

Others, such as Rep. Kathy Haigh, D-Shelton, said she wants to keep the excise tax available for transit agencies as a local-option tax. But she said she also thinks transit agencies should ask local voters before trying to collect the tax.

"It's an option we should at least look at," Mastin said of Haigh's idea.

Legislation in 2000 repealed all motor vehicle excise taxes -- or that was what many lawmakers thought when they enacted Senate Bill 6885. The bill set license tab fees at $30, plus handling fees, after the Supreme Court found I-695 was unconstitutional.

Judges' comments

In its newest ruling, the court rejected arguments by the attorney general that lawmakers had implied the repeal of the local-option transit taxes.

"We are mindful of the awkwardness created by our decision; but, as has been observed, 'it is the Legislature's job -- not ours -- to stem the tide of potential absurd results that might result from impartially applying the plain meaning of statutory language,' " Supreme Court Justice Susan J. Owens wrote in the majority opinion.

"Unfortunately, it is the people who must pay the price of legislative ineptitude," added Justice Richard Sanders in a separate opinion that agreed the Legislature failed to repeal all of the excise tax. Sanders argued it wasn't the state's job, but a local authority's, to collect the tax.

Peter Thein of the Washington State Transit Association said he thinks each transit board around the state now "will make its own decision" on whether to seek its share of the tax. "We've not heard of any. In fact we've heard of some passing resolutions that say they won't take it," Thein said.

However, Haigh's suggestion to let transit agencies put the issue to voters is something the transit agencies support, Thein said.

"We'd be quite happy if we could preserve it as a local option, especially for border counties," he said.

Brad Shannon, political editor for The Olympian, can be reached at 360-753-1688 and at shannonbrad@hotmail.com.

What's at stake

Under car tax legislation passed in 2000, which was modeled on Initiative 695, most vehicle owners pay $33.50 for yearly car tabs with another $3.50 fee if they use a private licensing subagent, Department of Licensing officials say. If local transit taxes were reimposed, the owner of a four-door 2002 Honda Accord would pay an extra $183.43.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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