SPOKANE, Wash. — The August 4 primary election is right around the corner, and if you’re receiving campaign flyers in your mailbox with numbers jumping at you, it’s important to know what is accurate.
Some recent flyers sent out were about Proposition 1, a measure that would renew a Spokane Transportation Authority sales tax you already pay for another 20 years. Here’s the facts.
Proposition 1 would renew a 0.2% sales tax that funds STA. It currently expires December 31, 2028.
Right now, you already pay a 0.8% sales tax on all of your purchases that goes to STA. To put it simply, for every ten dollars you spend, you pay two cents in taxes. If Proposition 1 is approved, and a fourth of the tax you already pay is renewed, you would pay the same amount in taxes, for another 20 years.
STA says this portion of the sales tax up for renewal, has funded 24 projects since its implementation. The agency projects the renewal would generate $942 million in revenue over the 20-year period.
If voters reject the proposition, the 0.2% tax will expire in 2028. You would still pay a 0.6% sales tax to STA.
STA argues that renewing the tax is essential to maintain the projects already built with those funds and to complete additional projects by 2035.
“We’re now coming back to the voters to say, will you renew this, to continue that service that we’ve implemented,” said Carly Cortright, STA Communications Officer.
Opponents of Proposition 1 raise two main arguments: they claim STA made different promises in 2016, when the 0.2% sales tax was first implemented under a ballot measure in the November election. They also state the agency would still have enough funds without the tax renewal.
The “VOTE NO ON PROP 1” campaign points back to the 2016 ballot measure language. They say that STA promised the tax would expire if it was not needed, but, on the 2016 sample ballot measure, it stated the tax would expire “no later than” December 31st, 2028.
Opponents also highlight STA’s confirmed $250 million reserve fund, arguing the agency doesn’t require additional revenue.
“They’ve got more than enough money coming in without the 2/10 [tax]. The question is, do we want to then extend a tax…and that’ll cost a billion dollars, to do new projects?” said Gavin Cooley, president of the Spokane Business Association.
On their flyer, it states “STA is asking for a new 20 year tax that equals 1 BILLION!”, and while the number isn’t exactly the same, some could argue it is very close to STA’s projection.
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