WPC:
A King County Superior Court judge last week ordered Seattle to refund taxes paid by plaintiffs that challenged the Local Improvement District (LID) imposed in 2019 to pay for a waterfront park. The judge found the assessments were “arbitrary and capricious” and ruled in a 117-page decision: “Based on the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, the City’s Waterfront LID assessment for [plaintiff] is annulled, and the City is ordered to refund any assessment paid by Appellant under protest.”
The new Seattle LID was controversial from the start. A 2018 Seattle Times op-ed opposing its creation said:
“Using this approach to increase city revenue circumvents limits on property taxes and bypasses the need for citywide voter approval. It unfairly burdens a small percentage of homeowners and renters and is completely at odds with making Seattle an affordable city.”
Based on the court ruling last week, the way Seattle attempted to assess the tax “was fundamentally flawed. The process was infected from its inception by a rush to judgment by City staff who were apparently anxious to begin collecting revenue…”. MORE
Great. Now do Oregon’s privilege tax (circumventing the constitution-prohibited sales tax).
…I figured the tax was on a lid of marijuana…
“lid
(Noun; 1960s slang) The quantity of marijuana that will fit in a flat Prince Albert pipe tobacco can (a “lid”). It originally held 1-1/2 oz of moister, denser tobacco, so it would hold about 1 oz of dope. If you are too young to remember, you can google image for ( Prince Albert can ).”
ht tps://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lid
There should be a law about sitting around and dreaming up taxes to impose on the public just because you think you have a great project that taxpayers should finance. These folks are in a make a tax spin loop and need to be brought in line. There is no end in sight.
I don’t get the big deal tho. Memphis had a special tax for YEARS only in the Graceland area to support Graceland development, seems pretty much the same to me….
ht tps://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/03/16/explainer-choosy-developers-choose-tif.html
SNS: Maybe they had a chance to vote on it.
And I thought a lid was when joey takes a nap every day, just kidding. SNS, once upon a misguided time when I was younger, I knew that a lid was about equal to 1 ounce of pot. My grandfather could have put it into his Prince Albert pipe tobacco can. And most of you old farts probably remember pranking people by calling them up and asking them if they had Prince Albert in a can. Well, you better let him out. The people you called didn’t think that was funny and it got old really fast. Kids thought it was hilarious. My grandfather also rolled his own cigarettes with one hand and some rolling papers and crimped it like a doobie.
City staff who were apparently anxious to begin c̶o̶l̶l̶e̶c̶t̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶r̶e̶v̶e̶n̶u̶e̶ stealing…