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Northwest Dealings

Category: Taxation

Idaho / Taxation

Part of the Lottery Scam

A gentleman in Boise recently became somewhat wealthier: There’s a lot of “if I won the lottery” talk in Boise these days, what with an unidentified, 30-something Boisean holding a $220.3 million Powerball jackpot ticket. The unnamed winner has to decide whether to take his winnings as a single, $125 million payout (before taxes) all at once, or a 30-year annuity that would total the full $220.3 million, made in equal payments of $7.3 million a year for 30 years. Congratulations and may you live a long and fruitful life. However, how do you feel about being lied to. Folks,...

City Government / Sequim / Taxation

What the Public Should Say

Sequim politicians are planning to build a new city hall: A new building would allow city offices to be consolidated into one building and could also provide space for expansion as the city continues to grow. And City leaders have promised that the public will have a say in planning for a new City Hall. The public should just say no! What happens in Sequim that requires 40 employees for a population of 4585? Perhaps the city would be wiser to scale back regulation and services and let the residents spend the money on things that lead to productive jobs....

Oregon / Taxation

Oregon’s Proposed Mileage Tax

As some of you may remember Oregon is planning to evaluate a proposal to replace their gasoline sales tax with a per mile assessment. For residents they contemplate equipping each vehicle with a GPS system and have special readers at gas stations that will add your mileage assesment to your refill bill. Out of staters would continue to pay a gas tax at the pump as they do today. The privacy issues and the cost to implement and administer should stop this dead in its tracks. But governments are driven to maximize their revenue so unless plenty of folks step...

Taxation / Vancouver

Port Commission Wants to Harm Local Business

Over at Columbia Watch Stilwell notes: I suppose the local GOP will rise up in outrage at this socialized-business approach. Shouldn’t the free market provide all the port development we need? Oh, right. Republicans only oppose taxes when they can make political hay out of it, not when their buddies are proposing them. He’s right. It is quite wrong to conflate republicans with free market economics. With regard to the Port Commission’s desire to raise $60.1 via taxes: well Buy Clomid Without Prescription , just say no. The local businesses should be up in arms about this as it is...

Oregon / Taxation

Coburg Citizens: Pay Your Own Way

Perhaps the folks in Coburg will step up to the plate and start paying for their own services, including their police overemployment plan, by rejecting their operating levy. Enforcement of appropriate traffic laws on their main streets, all two of them, is certainly reasonable and it may be reasonable that such an effort generates a bit more than enough revenue to cover the required monitors and the supporting legal infrastructure. Coburg has, though, become notorious, if not a laughing stock, throughout the northwest and beyond for their effort to fill their coffer through ticketing on I-5 adjacent to town (the...

Education / Taxation / Uncategorized / Washington

Tuition Increases and Tax Increases

Taxes and tax increases are just that even when mislabeled or hidden. Take the case of the tuition increases just approved by the Washington legislature. These increases are, compared to previous years, a tax increase targeted at a specific class of Washington residents. Those who are paying tuition to attend a public college or university: The Legislature has approved tuition increases at all schools: 7 percent at the University of Washington and Washington State University; 6 percent at Western Washington University, Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University and The Evergreen State College; and 5 percent at the community and technical...