Last week the Lewis County Commission was severely criticized by the Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board. When it enacted the Growth management Act in 1990, the Legislature foisted on cities and counties the impossible task of controlling sprawling development, which is the result of a regressive tax structure and a postage-stamp utility rate structure. The greater the distance a customer is from the electrical substation, water or sewage treatment plant or trade center, the greater the cost of the service. The last homeowner at the end of the county road who pays the same rate for his electricity as someone in town next to the substation is subsidized by the ratepayers in town. If the homeowner at the end of the line had to pay the true cost of his service, he might find it beneficial to move to town near his place of employment.
Cities are always in trouble because they are forced to support urban sprawl.
Our state's regressive tax structure that includes the upside down property tax is the principal cause of urban decay and sprawl and social, economic and environmental problems afflicting our society. Land is the result of nature, is a fixed quantity and a tax levied on it will not increase or decrease the amount of land by one square foot. Common sense would indicate this investment should be recovered by a land tax levied at a rate that would create a fund sufficient to pay for infrastructure repair or replacement, a new jail or new school when needed. But the current tax on land is so minimal the community investment is scooped into the pockets of slum lords and land speculators who get richer while they sleep. The high cost of urban land forces developers and home builders to move out into the country.