Washington Votes Forum

Yet more subsidies paid to those who choose the ferry "life style", living where it is very expensive to get around and forcing those of us who decide not to live that way to pay for their choices.

This makes complete sense. We should also remove the tax from highway and other transportation projects. The taxpayers would get a lot more for their construction dollar. Of cousre this would take away a source of general fund revenue from the state that I am,sure they would make up somewherre else.

Oh by the way there are a lot of people that are not well to do rich that are using the ferry system. They are our average working people that should be able to rely on an affordable highway system.

KeyPen:

Oh by the way there are a lot of people that are not well to do rich that are using the ferry system. They are our average working people that should be able to rely on an affordable highway system.

I don't mind them living where they need a ferry system.  I do object to forcing me to subsidize their choice as to where to live.  My gas tax should be used to build and maintain highways that I use.  If an unsubsidized ferry system were too expensive for them, they can always move to where they don't need it.

glhadley:

I don't mind them living where they need a ferry system.  I do object to forcing me to subsidize their choice as to where to live.  My gas tax should be used to build and maintain highways that I use. 

But not the highways that others use?  Should everyone be billed only for the roads they regularly travel on?  And in a practical sense, how are ferries different from bridges?

glhadley:

If an unsubsidized ferry system were too expensive for them, they can always move back to where they don't need it.

Why do you assume that everyone who lives in an area served by ferries moved there?

By the way, I'm not defending the State's nationalization of the Black Ball Line, but now that they have it they either need to run it like it's part of the state highway system, or sell it to an independent operator at a price equivalent to the "motivated seller" price they acquired it for in the fifties.

I don't believe I wrote anything about whether one was born there of moved there (unless you take my move "back" to mean that.)  Many people, when they grow up and figure out the costs of where they live, move to cheaper places.  Many, when they grow up, decide they like the life style they are used to and choose to remain.  It is their choice, all I ask is that they, not I, pay for it.

Two differences between bridges: 1) after they are built, ferries require continuous expensive people to operate them; bridges have the actual users providing the labor; 2) as described by this bill, people who use ferries are not paying the fuel taxes used to build, maintain, and operate them; bridge users are, plus they have to pay for the ferry users.