I got this from the EAA today and looked it up on the Olympia website and it is correct on all points:

This EAA Legislative Alert is being sent, as a member service, to all EAA members in Washington.

The Washington state House of Representatives just introduced House Bill 3176 that will impose a .005% (1/2 percent) excise tax on all aircraft in the state of Washington. The bill also states that if you elect to register your aircraft in another state and that state does not have a excise tax or is less than this new WA excise tax you will be required to pay the difference. This addition to the state of Washington tax law is in Sec. 1002 of this bill and it reads:

Sec. 1002. RCW 82.48.020 and 2000 c 229 s 4 are each amended to read as follows:

1. An annual excise tax is imposed for the privilege of using any aircraft in the state. The amount of the tax is five-tenths of one percent of the taxable value of the aircraft, as determined under section 1003 of this act.
2. The tax imposed under this section must be collected annually or under a staggered collection schedule as required by the secretary by rule.
3. Persons who are required to register aircraft under chapter 47.68 RCW and who register aircraft in another state or foreign country and avoid the aircraft excise tax imposed under this section are liable for the unpaid excise tax. A violation of this subsection is a gross misdemeanor.
4. The department of revenue may, under chapter 82.32 RCW, assess and collect the unpaid excise tax imposed under this section, including the penalties and interest provided in chapter 82.32 RCW.
5. Except as provided under subsection (3) of this section, a violation of this chapter is a misdemeanor punishable as provided in chapter 9A.20 RCW.

As proposed in the bill, this new excise tax will take the place of the current annual registration fee. So if you own a single-engine fixed wing airplane worth $100,000 your current annual registration fee is $65.00. Under the proposal in the bill that annual fee (excise tax) would jump to $500.00.

For comparison purposes in the state of Washington - non-commercial boats pay an annual excise tax of .005%, but only if the boat is over 16' in length ; and if you own a car you only pay an excise tax of .003% at the time you purchase the car, but not annually. Information from the Washington State Department of Revenue web site.

EAA is urging you to take immediate action.

Contact your state legislators to protest this new and unwarranted excise/property tax on your aircraft.
Washington State House of Representatives - http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/Pages/default.aspx
Washington State Senators - http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Senators/P ... fault.aspx

The time to act is NOW...

Post your feedback or comments on this thread on Oshkosh365.

.005 is not half percent

slyfox wrote:.005 is not half percent

Somebody needs to tell the author that % = dividing by 100.

If anyone feels like arguing a tax/public funding debate, there's one already in Hot Air that was sparked by this issue last time.

1SeventyZ wrote:

slyfox wrote:.005 is not half percent

Somebody needs to tell the author that % = dividing by 100.

If anyone feels like arguing a tax/public funding debate, there's on in Hot Air that was sparked by this issue last time.

No don't tell them. If the bill is written as .005% we should all vote for it.

EDIT: I just read the bill and there is no mention of ".005%" anywhere. The wording is: "The amount of the tax is five-tenths of one percent of the taxable value of the aircraft, as determined under section 1003 of this act." Bummer!

The amount of the tax is five-tenths of one percent of the taxable value of the aircraft, as determined under section 1003 of this act.

Let me check my math:

1% = 0.01 and 5/10 or 1/2 of 1% = 0.005 0.005 x 70,000 = $350.00 Yep still screwed as badly as I thought.

TD

In California, you pay approx 1% of the value. They call it personal property tax. You have to pay it on cars, but that is added to your registration each year.

This need not go into Hot Air unless robb or I make some remark and get law enforcement pissed off at me.

You need to make sure that the tax people value your plane at what they are selling for rather than the asking price of a similar plane that the owner does not want to sell.

Tim

AOPA has an on-line valuation tool for most small aircraft. That would be a good way to argue a legitimate market value for your airplane if they assess too high.

New taxes are not a fix or cure for anything except agendas. Long-term they hurt the economy. If a state really needs extra cash until the economy turns and normal tax revenues come back up then put a drop-dead on all these new taxes and tax hikes.

And, state residents, make sure any new taxes or tax hikes on aircraft and aircraft support materials (fuel) go toward maintaining state aviation infrastructure. We can't let the politicians get more and provide less.

crazyivan wrote:And, state residents, make sure any new taxes or tax hikes on aircraft and aircraft support materials (fuel) go toward maintaining state aviation infrastructure. We can't let the politicians get more and provide less.

The worst thing about this new tax is that all revenue will be directed into the state general fund to help plug the deficit instead of supporting WA State Aviation. At least the under the current system, most if not all money from aircraft registration goes to support the aviation infrastructure / SAR in Washington state i believe.

-Matt

Pretty good discussion on this topic over at the Pacific Northwest Flying forum:

http://www.pacificnorthwestflying.com/index.php?topic=4695.0

qmdv wrote:....You need to make sure that the tax people value your plane at what they are selling for rather than the asking price of a similar plane that the owner does not want to sell.

No, we Wa'tonians need to all write our state legislators & tell them that we are against that part of HB 3176, and prevent it from being enacted into law. Once they get that excise tax in place, it won't be hard for them to start edging it higher & higher percentage-wise. Our current registration fee for a single-engine certificated airplane is $65 a year-- this is the equivalent to that 1/2% tax on a $13K airplane. Do the math to see what the annual tax would be for your airplane.
To email your WA state legislators:
[email protected]
You should have two state reps & one state senator for your area, so it only takes a few minutes to email all of them.

Eric

qmdv wrote:In California, you pay approx 1% of the value. They call it personal property tax. You have to pay it on cars, but that is added to your registration each year.

This need not go into Hot Air unless robb or I make some remark and get law enforcement pissed off at me.

You need to make sure that the tax people value your plane at what they are selling for rather than the asking price of a similar plane that the owner does not want to sell.

Tim

MMMMMMMMMMM I will not get pissed, just even. LOL

House Bill 3176 is bigger than just raising the aircraft taxes. It is about increasing the taxes and fees $250 to $300 million dollars in our lovely state. Senate Bill 6843 is sponsored by Senator Margarita Prentice of South Seattle/Renton. This bill would suspend Initiative 960 which was passed by the voters in Washington State in 2007. I hope everybody is paying attention here. The will of the people passed this Initiative and the majority Democratic body of our legislature is trying to do away with it. I-960 requires a 2/3 Majority vote to increase taxes. If SB-6843 is passed, only a simple Majority would be required to increase taxes. In comes HB-3176, we have new taxes not only on our aircraft but also in many other areas. Please advise all of your friends and neighbors about what is going on in Olympia as we speak. Everybody needs to get on their computers and let their legislators know how the majority feels and put a stop to this. A good place to start is to tell your legislators if they vote for this legislation you will vote against them in the next election. We wouldn't be in this mess if the Majority party had done their homework and voted for a balanced budget to begin with. It is no wonder why the people of this country and state are very upset and tired of politicians. All of us must remember they work for us. Please pass this on folks.
GT

hotrod150 wrote:

qmdv wrote:....You need to make sure that the tax people value your plane at what they are selling for rather than the asking price of a similar plane that the owner does not want to sell.

To email your WA state legislators:
[email protected]
You should have two state reps & one state senator for your area, so it only takes a few minutes to email all of them.

Eric

It's much more effective to call or write them a letter rather than e-mail. Because e-mail is so easy legislators don't give it nearly the same weight as the former.

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not in favor of an excise tax specifically applied to aircraft.

If they're going to do an annual excise tax then it should apply to all motor vehicles. I have some sympathy in trying to keep the state running without cutting vital services (yeah yeah I know there's waste in there too) but if they're going to suspend I-960 for the next year or two to raise taxes to get us through this tough period, then those taxes should also have a sunset clause of a year or two.

Thanks for keeping on top of this Eric and keeping the thread out front.

GroundLooper wrote:It's much more effective to call or write them a letter rather than e-mail. Because e-mail is so easy legislators don't give it nearly the same weight as the former....

Unfortunately, it's also more of a PITA to call or write-- so I'm unlikely to follo through & actually do it. However, I usually hear about this stuff on the internet, so --since I'm already sitting right here at my computer, I can shoot the email(s) off right then. And then it's a done deal.
Better a lazy man's message than none at all, I figure.

Eric

WARNING: LONG WINDED POST FOLLOWS

I spent three hours in Olympia, WA on Saturday watching our legal process in action. The saying that you don't want to see laws or sausage being made is pretty much right.

What I did see was that an organized group has far more impact in public hearing than a group of well meaning enthusiasts.

The first bill heard was SB 6130 which was to remove the 2/3 required majority to pass tax bills. This legislation was supported by well organized groups who had very well prepared statements, buttons, and T-shirts. One would have never known that the majority of the citizens of the State had passed the 2/3'rd requirement and anyone who opposed the repeal was against, mothers, children, the sick, elderly, and mentally disabled.

When SB 3176 rolled around about six opponents (there were no supporters) of Section 10 which puts a 1/2% yearly excise tax on aircraft were heard before the finance committee had to dash off to pass 6130.

The most constructive thing was a meeting after the Finance committee hearing of the various interest groups opposing SB 3176 Section 10.

The take home from this meeting is the HB 3176 is probably going to be a done deal by next Friday. We need to contact our legislative Representatives and State Senators IMMEDIATELY.

The Governor is going to present her budget outline probably Tuesday and emails to her expressing opposition to the Section 10 of the Bill should go out tonight or tomorrow.

The two most politically connected in the meeting stressed that all communications needs to be respectful and point out the harm to aviation business and individuals. Even if you did not vote for these people, their being in office is not the point at this moment this bad bill is.

Suggestions were made to emphasize what GA does for the community. For example anyone who flys charity or medical missions needs to point out these services would be impacted.

Hopefully we will be getting some talking points and data that can be included. I would suggest checking the WA Pilots Assn and Washington Aircraft Association websites for more info.

One thing is obvious. This bill is aimed at "fat cats" and whoever wrote it probably did not think it through. The "fat cats" will move their corporate jets out of the state to a shell corporation and all the will be left are us "skinny cats" trying to carry the load.

The WADOT Dept. of Aviation is supposed to administer this and has no staff or funding for it. In addition the entire excise tax will go to the general fund while the registration fee which went to WASDOT_AV will be eliminated. WTF???

FYI: What we pay: $0.194 Federal tax, $0.11 WA DOT dept aviation, and State Sales tax on each gallon of av gas. Autos and trucks do not pay sales tax on fuel.

Light up your representatives NOW!

http://www.leg.wa.gov/pages/home.aspx

Tom

I'm amazed that nothing is on the news, why? TV that is.

See the last paragraph in the article in yesterday's Seattle Times. We are lumped into basically an "others" category, which explains why we need to raise our voices NOW.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... es14m.html

I just got this today from the Washington Pilots Association:



Urgent call to ALL Friends of aviation . . . Due Tuesday night February 16th!

House Bill 3176 (Part 10 on page 69) will destroy aviation as we know it in this state. Basically, the Legislature is proposing in Part 10 that we as aircraft owners pay .5% (1/2%) Excise Tax every year based on the aircrafts value. A $50,000 Cessna 172 would pay $250 every year. A new $225,000 Cessna 182 would pay $1,125 every year. Guess what a corporate jet would cost? What about the flight schools?

Note: the money would go to the General Fund . . . NOT to support aviation.

Please contact your local representative and the Governor immediately. Ask them to remove Part 10 on page 69 of this bill. If this section remains intact they are sending a universal message that aviation is not welcome in this state.

Also, stay on subject! Some of the chicanery (procedural tricks) while very frustrating are nothing more than a distraction. You risk your credibility if stray. One subject at a time!

Find your legislator
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/d ... treet=&zip

Sample Letter from Les Flue to Governor Gregoire . . . This is the best I have seen!
http://cid-f6bc3c8e6da71d80.skydrive.li ... hb3176.pdf

Read HB 3176
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary ... &year=2009


John F. Dobson
President
Washington Pilots Association

Any word on the fate of HB 3176 yet?

-Matt

I just want to remind people that Washington already gets $.11 aviation tax per gallon and about $.02 Haz and on top of the state and airport flow fees and FED excise tax of $.219 the state of WA charges the local sales tax to every gallon that you pump in an airplane. Most of that goes to the state general fund. None of our neighboring states tax avgas like WA.

Long time ago WA charged Sales tax on food, why not just start that up again, that would fix the Govener's budget.

Here's a list of the WA state legislators who are backing that exise bill:

Bill sponsors and contact information:

Representative Ross Hunter, Prime Sponsor
Democrat
Medina
(360) 786-7936
[email protected]

Representative Bob Hasegawa
Democrat
Seattle
(360) 786-7862
[email protected]

Representative Mark Ericks
Democrat
Snohomish
(360) 786-7900
[email protected]

Representative Steve Conway
Democrat
Tacoma
(360) 786-7906
[email protected]

Representative Larry Springer
Democrat
Kirkland
(360) 786-7822
[email protected]

Representative Sam Hunt
Democrat
Olympia
(360) 786-7992
[email protected]

Representative Jeannie Darneille
Democrat
Tacoma
(360) 786-7974
[email protected]

Representative Brendan Williams
Democrat
Olympia
(360) 786-7940
[email protected]

Representative Dave Upthegrove
Democrat
Des Moines
(360) 786-7868
[email protected]

Representative Scott White
Democrat
Seattle
(360) 786-7886
[email protected]

Representative Mary Helen Roberts
Democrat
Lynnwood
(360) 786-7950
[email protected]

Representative Sherry Appleton
Democrat
Poulsbo
(360) 786-7934
[email protected]

Representative Sharon Nelson
Democrat
Vashon
(360) 786-7952
[email protected]

Representative Reuven Carlyle
Democrat
Seattle
(360) 786-7814
[email protected]

Representative Timm Ormsby
Democrat
Spokane
(360) 786-7946
[email protected]




Legislative Bill Information Website: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/

Initiative 960 Website: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/tax/default.asp

From a friend in WA.

MTV

What did all those guys have in common?

Tim