Comments on: Washington State’s vehicle displacement tax bill irks just about everyone

By: fourwheeldrift

fourwheeldrift — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:29:37 +0000

Dan,
Thanks for your comments. I’ll differ in opinion a little and say that it’s not just a Democrat thing. Plenty of Democrats in this state are up in arms regarding the tax situation, as well as the lack of common-sense solutions. There are good and bad solution makers in both parties, and certainly enough blame to go around.

Luckily for those of us with collector cars, Washington State allows us to pay once for cars older than 30 model years old. Right now, that means anything classified as a 1978. Just think, 5.0L Mustangs, 2.2L Turbo Dodges and the like are just a hop-skip-and-jump from being eligible for permanent plates! Your father’s last-year A, a V8 260Z or a 440 Dart (although I prefer either a Hemi for straight line speed or 340 Six-Pack if the Dart is headed for curves) would all be exempt.

I fully agree that the people hold the power to reward or penalize the representation for their decisions. Simply voting for a specific party doesn’t mean happiness (look at all the life-long Republicans upset with Bush and all the life-long Democrats who failed to support Gregoire initially.) As car people, we are a special interest group, and therefore should support candidates that realize the importance of affordable transportation via motorized vehicles to the national and state economies.

By: dantupper

dantupper — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 23:08:27 +0000

I agree with your opinion-I have a couple of 4×4’s (trail rigs, nothing nice) and a couple of older cars that I like, a pickup, and would get hammered for over $2200 a year under this tax.
I drive between 10k to 12k a year-spread out over 6 well maintained, but not cosmetically perfect vehicles.
Here’s another issue-EPA estimates for old cars?-my buddies Dad has a bone-stock ‘31 Model A-any EPA numbers on that?. Or all the engine swaps-5.0/5 speed in a old Datsun 260 sports car?, 440 into a Dart?. Or that older EPA tests that were ran differently, and used less accurate equipment?.
Any tax system based on EPA numbers is utterly worthless and lacks valididty.
I think of it as revenge of the nerds-I guess Mommy and Daddy didn’t buy them a ‘cool’ car in high school, or they were too lazy to bust their butts and get 2 jobs like I did, so this is their revenge on all of us.
These bullying laws are also an attack on the already taxed to death working class of this state, not to mention the elderly or fixed income folks.
These Democrats attacking the working class-notice how so many signed on to the various NAFTA agreements-thought they were the ones that are there to protect the working folks.
The good thing is that all these clowns are going to get spanked right out of office next election cycle, and hopefully move to Berkley, where they belong.