Seattlest: RTAGate (Or How We Spent $20,000 Riding the 545 and 554)

Sound Transit

Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:02:41 -0800

Greetings: This is Sound Transit signing on with some clarifying information. The issue we're addressing affects about 1.5 percent of vehicles in the RTA Ddistrict. Vehicle owners in question have incorrectly paid at the time they paid for their vehicle license tabs (it's not something specifically tied to vehicle purchases, as suggested here, although in some cases the issue could have first occurred at that time). The state auditor flagged the issue and Sound Transit and the Department of Licensing are addressing it by sending refunds to those affected. The people affected live near, but outside, the RTA District boundary. When someone has overpaid, the amount of overpayment associated with the 0.3 percent RTA MVET has been $30 annually for each $10,000 of vehicle value. We regret the error and are working with DOL to send out refunds as soon as possible. If you have any questions about this issue please visit http://www.soundtransit.org/x9917.xml, where you will find contact information in the event your question is not answered. Thanks, Sound Transit

alexjon

Sun, 14 Dec 2008 11:32:18 -0800

So how much did you overpay? Did you go back and look at your tax records? You should check that before you go start filing against the state based on an assumption.

brad

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:20:47 -0800

Yeah, AJ, I'd love to get hauled in to court for OVERpaying taxes for years. That would be about perfect considering the way this thing has been bundled.

alexjon

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 17:03:36 -0800

Your business is registered and taxed through the city/state/county. Your tabs and business license go through the DoL. The DoL registers based on zip code, your taxes are determined by address. Furthermore, according to the DoR, the weight is on you to verify tax allocation to them. http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/Pubs/LocalSalesTaxChng/2001/KingCo.pdf It even tells you how to figure it out. I hope you're reporting your taxes correctly-- reporting wrongly could get you in trouble for tax fraud now that you know how to figure it all out.

rizzuhjj

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:58:54 -0800

I don't know if it's the DoR or DoL or even some mapping agency -- but my only hint is that the P-I article says "state agency computer." I think the correction is a positive one -- it's more precise. All agencies involved should address this problem and fix it now. It looks tremendously bad -- and it is.

brad

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:46:35 -0800

I have to assume that the counties provide the data to the state, and the DoR system ties it together. So while the DoR may be responsible for disseminating bad info, the counties would be responsible for the data itself. GIGO.

rizzuhjj

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:05:55 -0800

(Not to undercut the point of this post, which is that the DoR and ST should fix this issue immediately and refund past receipts to businesses.)

TroyJMorris

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 11:04:34 -0800

See? This is why computers are evil. I'm really wondering how these lines got drawn up? Does anyone know how arbitrary it was. Thanks for thinking of the greater good, Brad.

rizzuhjj

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:57:39 -0800

That's fine but I don't think that excuses putting the wrong information there. These weren't "ST computers" -- these are Department of Revenue computers. It's wrong to keep the current wording. It's as if I conflated your business and your neighbor's -- they're in the same neighborhood but they're not the same thing.

brad

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:43:47 -0800

Interdepartmental squabbling won't fix this. If the agencies stay quiet, they are just begging for a class-action suit. Some org needs to take the lead on this.

rizzuhjj

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:32:35 -0800

Small correction: "Last night, the P-I ran a story about Sound Transit having problems accurately determining the actual border of its district. It seems that if part of a city or zip code lies within the ST district, the ST computers determined that the entire city or zip code was considered to be in the district." This correction is slightly incorrect. Per the linked article: "who lived outside the agency's taxing district due to shortcomings of a computer program at a state agency, court testimony shows." This seems to be a Department of Revenue issue and not a Sound Transit error. It is incredibly unfortunate and it's good that you're reporting the issue. It does need to be addressed. In reality, I doubt customers will see a dime from this -- but the businesses who were over-charged should be compensated.