Tim Eyman's initiative for $30 car tabs won't make ballot

Political activist Tim Eyman’s attempt to throw out Sound Transit’s hefty car tab tax has failed.

In July, Eyman launched an initiative to bring back $30 car tabs statewide.  He needed to collect 260,000 signatures by Friday in order to get the measure before lawmakers and then on the ballot.

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“We all know that if our $30 car tabs initiative had qualified for a vote, it would've been overwhelmingly approved by the voters across the state, especially in the Puget Sound,” Eyman said in a news release Friday.

After voters agreed to a big extension of Sound Transit light rail last year, some who live in the Sound Transit district in King, Pierce and Snohomish counties were shocked when they received tab renewals with more than triple the old taxes.

The old Sound Transit car tab tax was 3/10ths of 1 percent, or $30 on a car worth $10,000. In March 2017, the tax increased to 1.1 percent, or $110 on a $10,000 car.

After a public outcry, some lawmakers began putting pressure on Sound Transit about the sticker shock. Senators Steve O'Ban and Dino Ross called for an investigation into whether Sound Transit engaged in a "systematic effort to confuse and misrepresent the impact and cost of the ST3 authorization to legislators and the public."  %

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An investigation was conducted by the Republican-led Senate Law and Justice Committee.

According to an executive summary by the committee, key findings determined that Sound Transit misled people by a variety of actions including how information was provided to voters in its online tax calculator and mailing guide.

Eyman and his supporters had gotten $30 tab initiatives passed in 1999 and 2002. In 1999, Sound Transit continued to collect a percentage locally. The 2002 initiative focused on the Sound Transit taxes collected in addition to the $30 fee, but the state supreme court later ruled the measure didn’t apply to Sound Transit fees.

Eyman said this year’s failure was due to a lack of funds to hire paid petitioners to supplement volunteers to collect signatures.

Eyman is currently facing a $2.1 million lawsuit from the state attorney general alleging that he misused campaign funds for personal expenses.

Cox Media Group