Last week's Seattle Weekly had a terrific cover story on the disastrous Seattle Monorail. One of the problems with the Monorail is that it is funded entirely by an excess registration tax on automobiles registered in Seattle, but many city residents are registering their cars elsewhere to avoid the tax and this has created a serious budget shortfall.

I wrote several weeks ago that it is an appropriate act of civil disobedience to register one's car outside of Seattle to avoid the Monorail tax. In fact, I was wrong. It is not an act of civil disobedience as it is not against the law. There has never been a legal requirement in Washington to register one's vehicle at one's primary residence. (The House Bill Report for the bill that failed in the legislature in an attempt to change the situation makes this very clear). In other words, the Monorail car tax as approved by the voters was voluntary, not mandatory, and those who choose not to pay it are entirely within their rights. Nevertheless, the local newspapers continue to editorialize against the non-payers as "scofflaws" and "evaders" when they are not. (examples: P-I Feb. 15, Seattle Times March 1, and the aforementioned article in the Seattle Weekly).

I wrote letters to both the Times and Weekly alerting them to their error. The Weekly published my letter in this week's issue. The Times has not published my letter.