Vehicle Registration paper -- What does "Other" mean?

I'm getting ready to pay MVET on a car and pickup. At the bottom of the vehicle registration form we carry in the visor, there is an itemization of fees at the bottom. In addition to the MVET, filing fee, etc. etc. there is a line called "other" which in the case of our car is for $26.50. Does anyone know what "other" is for? The licensing clerk didn't know. Is this yet one more hidden tax?

-- A.C. Johnson (ajohnson@thefuture.net), September 03, 1999

Answers

I called the state DOL a few years ago when this "other" tax of $15 first appeared on all my registration forms (I believe only 2 other counties also levy this tax). The DOL said I should talk to the King County Assessors office, since they are the ones that levied the tax, "the DOL can't be held responsible for what KC does". The KC Assessors office told me that a new state tax law allows them to levy this tax and that it can be any amount up to $15 per registration (I can't explain why yours is $26.50, mine has never exceeded the maximum $15....Perhaps it's another new tax law that we never were told about or got to vote on). KC decided to levy the full $15 (surprise), "because we are allowed to" and they use the money for no particular reason. They're not required to divulge the reason, so they won't. Convienient. The state blames the county, the county blames the state. We get no explainations. Just shut up and put up. I suspect this tax was lobbied in Olympia by KC...on our behalf.

Is it any wonder we have I-695? This kind of arrogance by our bureaucrats and total disregard for the people who they feed on eventually leads to a revolt. All this discussion about what I-695 is or is not is interesting but it really misses the point (and it keeps treading the same old ground). I-695 to me is simply a two pronged tax revolt. I don't care that it causes a problem for Olympia, no, I hope it does. I believe government AT ALL LEVELS is out of touch, out of control and has gotten to big and intrusive. I believe it is time to beat it back and get it under control. Nothing else seems to work. Even the people we elect turn on us after we grant them power over us. The Initiative process is the only real power we have. It's about time we use it to cut off their source of oppression....our money. I believe much smaller government is necessary for a free society to continue and this is just one small step in that direction. I hope it isn't the last. Be grateful we have the Initiative process to conduct our revolt in a civilized, democratic manner. The alternative is much more violent. I prefer the peaceful means we are using now. I support 695 whole heartedly, but BOTH sides are making a lot of false claims and extrapolations. The one I don't like to hear is from the pro camp that claims it will somehow increase state revenue because of increased economic activity. That's a good thing????? More revenue = bigger and more intrusive government. I prefer to shrink government, not grow it. If I really believed that this is what 695 would do, I would oppose it. Please stop trying to garner every single vote in the State. There are many voters out there who believe big government is a good thing, you will never convince them to vote for this. Thank your lucky stars they are in the minority and try not to alienate your supporters. Oh, and by the way, the BEST local government is in my family room. Every level above that is just trouble. This forum pretty much verifies that.

-- Steve Phillips (stevephillips@hotmail.com), September 03, 1999.

OOPS, sorry. I didn't answer your exact question. I just now looked at my registration form and discovered that the tax I researched and reported on above is the "Local Fee", which is $15. My "other" tax is $26.35, but I have never investigated that charge. There are too many taxes "Chrismas treed" on to the form to keep them all straight in my head. Accept my apology, I pass! By the way, that new "Local Fee" really ticked me off and was the last straw for me. Along comes I695.....

-- Steve Phillips (stevephillips@hotmail.com), September 03, 1999.

Steve:

Thanks for the reply. My error -- My "other" fee is also $26.35, as is yours.

Regarding your well-taken comments about the issue of more revenue to government if taxes are cut because enconomic activity will increase, there is indeed an important moral issue about how much money government should extract from the citizens. However, Washingtonians, and all other Americans for that matter, still deserve substantial tax cuts. If we don't get them when the state and federal governments are running these huge surpluses, as they are now, when will we get them? We won't, and you can bet tax cuts will be even tougher to get if politicians think we're headed for recession. The last meaningful tax cut I can recall in this state that had some visibility to the everyday taxpaper was the elimination of sales tax on food. That was in the early 1980s, if I recall, and we are overdue for further relief.

Our job as watchdogs on government won't end when 695 passes. We will still have to monitor government and protest when we see waste and abuse and too much treasure flowing to the tax maw. We need to insist on shutting down wasteful welfare programs, corporate and otherwise, and we need to push for the elimination of programs that government thinks we "need," but which a lot of Washingtonians probably don't even know exist.

Hang in there and keep supporting 695 -- every vote counts.

-- A.C. Johnson (ajohnson@thefuture.net), September 03, 1999.

"Other has a long list of taxes that can be added to your license fee. If you have a pickup "other" will include gross weight license fee.

For you car, I can account for $24.85. Your license re-newal fee is $23.75. There is a $0.10 special studies fee and another $1.00 special plate fee. This amounts to $24.85.

I-695 actually raises the license fee to $30 and eliminates the other two fees that amount to $1.10. I-695 also eliminates the excise tax which is the big item on your registration.

Your licensing fee, by law, is all directed to the "roads". The State Patrol gets the lions share. There is a distribution to cities and towns and even to the ferry.

Don't feel bad about not knowing what "other" means. It took me quite a while to figure it out. I finally found a licensing clerk that knew enough about the computer program that she could print me out a list of the categories in "other". If you insist you too can get a print out of the items.

-- RD (Monte) Benham (rmonteb@aol.com), September 04, 1999.