The following editorial originally appeared in The (Tacoma) News Tribune:
For Washington drivers, the coronavirus shutdown has brought a few perks to temper the pain: fewer miles on the road, less wear on vehicles and less gas guzzled. Plus, the price at the pump has plunged in the last month — a nice windfall, if it wasn’t also a sign of the world economy in a tailspin.
But there’s one vehicle cost for which no relief is in sight: the colorful and controversial tab stuck to your rear license plate. At some point this year, you’ll get billed for the tabs on every vehicle you own. The bills haven’t stopped during the pandemic, despite Gov. Jay Inslee ordering Washingtonians to stay home and watch their idled cars collect pollen in the driveway.
Inslee should slash or postpone car tab fees for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency, perhaps all year. Think of it as a down payment on full implementation of Initiative 976, the $30-car-tabs cap approved by Washington voters last fall. The measure is now hung up in legal appeals.
The governor seemed open to the idea when a reporter brought it up at a press conference last week. “We will consider that,” Inslee said, noting other financial-relief orders he’s signed, including an eviction freeze.
An Inslee spokesman told us there were no new developments. It’s unknown, for instance, how long car tabs would be suspended, and by how much, if at all. And it’s unclear whether the Legislature would have to approve, since it involves taxes.
But one thing seems certain: It won’t be the permanent cut that voters demanded and that legislative Republicans have aggressively pushed.
Some Republicans would now settle for car tab fairness in half-measures. Sen. Steve O’Ban of Tacoma sent a letter to Inslee, asking for a $30 limit while the coronavirus crisis persists. “To continue to require out-of-work Washingtonians, and small business owners of nonessential activities, to pay a vehicle licensing fee that exceeds, in some areas of the state, $400-600 or more, is unacceptable,” O’Ban said.
He’s right. No amount of household savings can be dismissed during these unprecedented times, as nearly 600,000 Washingtonians have filed jobless claims in recent weeks.
To be clear, $30 car tabs is an archaic idea that we opposed before last year’s election. The damage inflicted on roads, freeways, bridges, ferries and transit will only be compounded by multiyear, multi-billion-dollar revenue losses inflicted by the current economic lockdown.
State Rep. Jake Fey, D-Tacoma, told The News Tribune the state is staring at a 40 percent hit to future transportation budgets, but said, “We’ll live with a court decision.” He added that he could live with a temporary deferral of car tabs: “That’s real dollars in real time (for vehicle owners) without getting into the whole issue of the initiative and its legality.”
Real dollars, indeed. We hope Inslee sees the light and acts soon.
