ST3 plan would cost typical adult $169 annually or $14 per month

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Sound Transit today released an updated and more precise calculation of the taxes residents would pay if the Sound Transit 3 ballot measure is approved in November.

In its June 20, 2016 letter, the ST3 Expert Review Panel (ERP) appointed by the state of Washington suggested that the typical cost per household be updated to reflect the most current data. The more accurate new calculation indicates ST3 would cost the typical adult in the Sound Transit District an additional $169 annually, $34 or 17 percent less than the $203 previously estimated.

Under the updated and more precise methodology addressed in the attached memo, the calculations for all three of the new taxes that regional voters will consider now use median values, or the amounts at which 50 percent of people would pay more and 50 percent would pay less. Previously, the calculation for the motor vehicle excise tax (MVET) used average vehicle values based on the information that was readily available in early 2015. Using a median value cancels the disproportionate impact of the relatively small number of people that own very expensive vehicles. For example, the 1 percent of vehicles in the district with values over $52,000 and 10 percent with values over $27,000 are dramatically higher than the median value of $5,333.

For both the MVET and property taxes, the new calculation is now a reflection of the typical adult who lives within the precise boundaries of the Sound Transit District as opposed to the three-county area.

The ST3 Plan would build 62 additional miles of light rail and 37 new stations to form a 116-mile regional system, as well as bus rapid transit, commuter rail and other regional transit investments to get people out of traffic as the region's population keeps growing. The plan's $53.8 billion in investments would be enabled by new taxes including: (1) a sales tax of 0.5 percent ($.50 on a $100 purchase); (2) a MVET of 0.8 percent ($80 annually per $10,000 of vehicle value); and (3) a property tax of 25 cents for each $1,000 of assessed valuation ($100 annually for a $400,000 home). Sound Transit will develop an online calculator through which residents can input information to calculate individualized annual cost estimates.

http://www.soundtransit.org/About-Sound-Transit/News-and-events/News-releases/st3-plan-would-cost-typical-adult-169-annually-or

[msongs]

1. is that before graft and corruption + overruns drive up the bill by tens of billions more?

[brush]

2. What is this about? What state? What city?

[jmowreader]

3. Sound Transit is one of the public transport systems in the Puget Sound area of Washington

Right now there is a subway line in Seattle that runs from the University of Washington to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. It is a good system that is used very heavily. They want to extend the line further: to Everett in the north, and to Tacoma in the south. They also want to build a second line that runs east-west from West Seattle to Ballard, and a third line on the east side of Lake Washington. More bus routes are also in the plan.

The major problem: eventually they're going to find the straw that breaks the taxpayers' back. They're also drilling a tunnel under the streets of Seattle to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct - if nothing else goes wrong and they can maintain the drilling rate they're getting now, they have nine more months to drill. I think it's fair to triple that estimate.