Yet again, the State Government is looking for ways to cut the deficit, and yet again, they are going to extraordinary lengths to avoid having to raise taxes or close loopholes. more ›

Something is sucking the life out of the employees of the Seattle branch of the Internal Revenue Service, and it's not tax cuts for the wealthy. It's bedbugs, which are widely known to be the grossest urban plague of all time. more ›

Every seven years since 1990, Seattle voters have approved a temporary tax hike to pay for education programs. With the levy's 2004 incarnation expiring with the new year, it should shock no one to find Proposition 1 on their ballot, which would raise around $231 million from property taxes over the next 7 years for City programs serving schools and families with children. It's not quite as simple as Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan, so bear with us. more ›

What's more fun than drudging through tax law? Dancing, obviously. But right now, both are at issue: whether bars that offer dancing are subject to retail sales tax on their cover charges, whether it's fair that bars are being charged these back taxes now, and if they should've been paying these taxes in the first place. We talked to two key players in this debate: Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for the Washington State Department of Revenue, and Mark Kimball, who is Capitol Hill dance spot Neighbours's lawyer. more ›

Stirring up a recent shitstorm is the recent enforcement of a 1993 tax on admission with an "opportunity to dance." Anonymous bars, clubs and venues told The Stranger that the State Department of Revenue has started hitting them up for back taxes they've never had to pay before -- up to $210,000. The businesses, and the City Department of Film and Music, say they have never seen the tax enforced on music venues before. The Department of Revenue says this has always been a thing, and they have always said that that this is a thing. This leaves bars, clubs and nightlife patrons wondering: what is this tax, what does it apply to, and why has it only recently been enforced? more ›

While King County's proposed $20-a-year licensing fee has been a very, very public debate topic this election cycle, another, larger licensing fee has been brewing in the city of Seattle. The City Council is considering putting a city car tab fee on the ballot to support transit improvements through the Seattle Transportation Benefit District, and this one is much larger: anywhere from $60-$80. $40 was proposed, but apparently will not raise enough money and is off the table. An $60-80 fee would double, or more than double, what drivers currently pay yearly when you factor in the $20 Seattle drivers just started paying, but would go to fund much-needed transit improvements. But living in a state with one of the most regressive tax structures in the nation, a lot of concern has been raised as to whether a fee this high goes too far. This is a pretty complicated issue. Good thing there's a public meeting tomorrow! more ›

Throughout all East Link Light rail negotiations and arguments concerning Downtown Bellevue, the City Council, pro- and anti-transit alike, could agree on one thing: they would all like to have the train run through a tunnel. The only hurdle was a big one -- an additional $329 million added to the project's price tag. At the beginning of negotiations a few years ago, the idea seemed like a pipe dream, even with the City of Bellevue kicking in $160 million. Sound Transit's governing board decided Thursday that the East Link Light Rail Downtown Bellevue route the Bellevue City Council could agree on, i.e., that tunnel, can go forward. We just still don't know how Sound Transit is going to pay for it. more ›

Music, movies and more for your Monday afternoon enjoyment. more ›

Hey, slacker. You've got a few more days to get your taxes done. Get 'em prepared for free, with your friends at the library. more ›

State democrats introduced a house bill today that would repeal "certain tax exemptions" to bring in extra money to fully fund K-3 class-size reduction. more ›

The City Council voted yesterday to put the Families and Education levy up for renewal on November's ballot. In a horrible case of bad timing, the seven-year Families and Education Levy is expiring in the wake of the Seattle Schools' recent financial scandal. While often levies are renewed with only a negligible tax difference -- we do this with school levies all the time -- the price tag has been doubled on this one, from $116 million to $231 million, or from about $64 to $124 per household in property taxes (the PI estimates $65/$134). more ›

Happy Legislative Session opening day! Naturally, your friend and mine Tim Eyman is on the prowl with some new filings -- but he seems to be running out of ideas. First, he reintroduced his old $30 car tabs, which was at least somewhat of a forgotten classic. And today, he decided to cover all his bases by filing I-1053 again, reports the PI. Yes, the one that voters just passed by 64% in November that requires a two-thirds legislative majority to raise any taxes. Eyman says he's just re-filing in case his precious initiative is overturned -- gee, I wonder why he's worried, perhaps because his initiatives tend to be a pain in the ass for lawmakers and progress and have been declared unconstitutional before. If it's not overturned, he says, he'll wait until 2012 to bust out the initiative once more. more ›

We’ve been hearing about it for months and today it finally happened: Governor Gregoire signed an executive order issuing across the board cuts to cover a budget shortfall from falling tax revenue. She soon after fled to Asia on a trade mission. The executive order will mean cutbacks at every single state agency in Washington - effective October 1st. The specific level of cuts won’t be known until Thursday, after a new state revenue forecast is completed. more ›

Well, this is fun. Remember how we speculated that the legislature in Olympia wasn’t going to be so happy about Gov. Gregorie’s plan to raise taxes to balance the budget? The discontent has exceeded our expectations in the form of this ridiculous video of Gov. Gregoire signing a bill that will allow the Legislature to increase taxes. Standing behind the presumably oblivious Governor, conservative activist Tim Eyman holds his nose and gives a thumbs down, like a six year old girl who’s just been given the cooties at recess. more ›

Gov. Gregoire released her proposed state budget on Wednesday, and (surprise!) much like the rest of the country, we’re hurting for cash. How much cash? Washington State needs to close an expected $2.8 billion budget shortfall. more ›

When we first read the headline "1 in 3 Americans likes to nap" in the Seattle Times, we initially thought, Sweet, we can do an Times Op-Ed board joke! But then fate--well, Publicola--provided us with better napping evidence. more ›

Publicola is feeling grim about the legislative session's taxes vs. deficit paralysis, and boils down the basics with a look at Rep. Eric Pettigrew’s (D-37, S. Seattle) sales tax bill. It called for an increase of three-tenths of a percent, and Publicola says its failure—"with a $13 million cut to children’s health care, a $75 million cut to low-income care for hospitals, a $28 million cut to mental health care among other cuts—defines the 2009 session." more ›

The fellas Jim, Johnny, and José must be shaking their heads as the House passed a bill to increase liquor (wine and beer) license fees for Washington's restaurants, bars, taverns, and even trains. The booze business, is one of the few industries that is somewhat recession proof, which can be very attractive for a state that is $9 billion in the hole. Pending final approval, the bill would raise fees (and probably drink prices) nearly 10 percent, making it even harder for the local "little guys" to hang on. more ›

• Don't play with fire, the Washington DNR said so. So there.
• Capitol Hill has pretty trees and presumably, pretty bad allergies now. Yay, Spring!
• A case of guilt by association: Seattle rapper Fatal Lucciauno, pulled from The Crocodile's April line-up.

Do you prefer one or two lumps of conservative sugar with your tea? Today, around the nation, conservatives are joining together for the Tax Day Tea Party, (TEA stands for "Taxed Enough Already") to protest the government's spending and tax motives. Naturally, Seattle (and many other Washington cities) will be holding myriad tea party rallies throughout the day. While the group of conservative Seattle bloggers, who claim to have ignited the new "revolution" nationwide, will be drawing crowds (and singing tax songs!) in Olympia. more ›

Tomorrow's the big day, so hopefully you're all done by now with your W-2s and 1099s and itemizing every single receipt from the past year. If not, get on that already. Once you're done, you can bask in the sweet rewards that Tax Day brings. No, not your refund, we mean fish tacos and sex toys, of course. (And yes, that's what she said.) Tomorrow, Babeland will be handing out a free Gold Digger Jr. vibrator to the first 100 people in the door who can prove that they have filed their taxes. Additionally, 10% off any instore purchases. Meanwhile, Taco Del Mar is offering up a free taco to anyone who goes to their website and fills out the form to get a coupon via email. YOU'RE WELCOME. more ›

Kim might go to some shows at the Triple Door this weekend: Robyn Hitchcock on Saturday and Eleni Mandell on Sunday. Or she might go see Lushy on Saturday at the Skylark. Or she might just take some very long bike rides and spend the evenings recouping. Tomorrow and the next day are anyone's guess. Tonight, however, she'll be playing her own music for free at Trabant in the U-District, and yall should come. more ›

The news today that the state budget crisis is than originally projected is like one of those expensive studies you read about that finds a wholly predictable result, such as that pretty people get helped more when they fall down or that women in bikinis lead straight men to make stupid choices. It's a giant collective "duh" moment, where our fearless politicos in Olympia finally come out and admit the reality that existed a few months ago but is finally "official," even though everyone with half a brain and a moderate attention span knew it then, much as they know things are going to continue getting worse. more ›

Our state House of Representatives has passed HB 1906, known by its sexier title, the Economic Security Act of 2009. The bill will temporarily increase unemployment benefits by $45 a week, and jacks the minimum benefit from $129 per week to $155. Out of curiosity, who thinks they can get by on $620 per month? Fun fact courtesy of Chuck Taylor: a back of the envelope calculation puts Seattle's unemployment rate at 15 percent, double the state rate. We also agree that taxing UI benefits is cruel and unusual punishment. more ›

[ED. NOTE: Seattle Transit Blog strongly disagrees with Brad's characterization of their conclusions. They did some back-of-the-envelope figuring based on Brad's premise, with the intent of downsizing his initial estimate of the possible tax error. They are not interested, apparently, in the looking into the situation further: "But a figure in the low tens of millions of dollars is serious money, enough to do a freeway ramp or other practical project. I’d rather use that money to build a project they participated in the vote for than attempt to reconstruct 12 years of purchase records."] more ›

We love the bus. We ride it whenever we can. We try to convince our friends, family, and neighbors to ride the bus. We even offered favors to our girlfriend if she would start riding the 41 from her Northgate crib to her downtown office. (She declined; we broke up. Draw your own conclusions.) more ›

City of Seattle Proposition 1: Seattle Prop. 1 would enact a six-year levy to raise money to do some much-needed safety maintenance on the Pike Place Market. Pretty much everyone in town supports the levy. With uncharacteristically weird grammar, the Times says, "It's not fun or fancy improvements, but you have to do it." more ›

There are two weeks until Election Day, and two issues in our state's gubernatorial race (three if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

There are 10 weeks until Election Day, and 10 issues in our state's gubernatorial race (11 if you count Eastern Washington's concerns). Each week we'll be taking an award-winning look at where the candidates stand. more ›

The Seattle City Council has overwhelmingly passed a measure to charge a 20-cent fee for every disposable bag--paper or plastic--starting January 1st, 2009. Yesterday, the council voted 6-1 in favor of the bag fee and to ban plastic foam food and drink containers. more ›