Monorail Car Tax

It's once again easy to avoid paying the nutty but optional Seattle Monorail Car Tax. After less than a month of draconian enforcement of an unlegislated rule, the Washington Department of Licensing is suspending its administrative rule to require vehicle registration at the primary residence.

the DOL vehicle database cannot currently accept both a primary residence address and a second mailing address, which has caused concern for many vehicle owners who worry about the security of residential postal delivery.

Responding to these concerns, DOL will enable citizens who want to get their vehicle-related mail at an address different than their primary residence to continue using their mailing address until DOL completes the computer system upgrades required to allow both a residential and a mailing address. These upgrades will be completed in early November 2004

You'd think the dorks who run the DOL would have figured this out before they changed the procedures, but you'd have too much confidence in state government to think that. I'm thankful at least that incompetence trumps arrogance!

The punchline: There is absolutely no requirement to pay the Seattle Monorail Tax. If you want to blow hundreds of dollars of your hard-earned money on the Moronorail, you are perfectly free to do so! If you want to spend your own money on something sensible, you can do that too. Just be sure to register your car outside of Seattle. It's not only your legal prerogative, it's your civic duty!

UPDATE: A well-connected friend e-mails that the part about the "computer system upgrades" was a face-saving excuse and in reality the DOL backed down when legislators and business groups persuaded them that the unlegislated rule change doesn't hold water. Interesting that the DOL would prefer to save face with an admission of incompetence than with an admission of arrogance. And isn't the "early November 2004" date a clear admission of a stupid political mistake?

Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at May 18, 2004 12:43 PM