Voters to decide on Seattle transit measure

For voters in Seattle, there's a measure on the ballot that, if passed, would bump up your sales tax. Yeah, supporters say it also bumps up your bus service. FOX 13's Sam Campbell has more on what you need to know. A 100,000 hour bump, according to transit advocates, mostly on weekends and overnight routes. Everybody doesn't work nine to five banker hours. So having service at the time that people actually need it and that's gonna impact their lives I think is crucial. Nighttime workers, waitresses, bartenders, folks like that who are getting off at one, two in the morning and having reliable bus service to get back and forth from the house and not having to choose whether to eat or take Lyft. The city says the transit measure on this year's ballot would fund more free transit cars, light rail improvements, and two new streetcar lines. To pay for it, the sales tax would raise in Seattle by about 15 cents for every $100. It's a price that critics say is not shared equally in the city. The sales tax is regressive, so it hurts lower-income people and working poor the most. And that's the opposite of what tax policy should do. But those campaigning in favor of the measure say it's a small price in comparison to driving. It costs on average $12,000 a year to own a car in Washington state. That's not even factoring in the skyrocketing cost of gas across the country. The city estimates it would raise $138 million over 10 years. Some question how that tax burden translates to each household. The boosters of this have said it's going to be cheap. It's like $50 a year. It's not very much. There are tourists. There are people from outside the city. But even if you take that into consideration, the tax bite for Seattle residents is going to be much higher. If approved, Proposition 1 would replace the last Seattle transit measure passed back in 2020. In Seattle, Sam Campbell, FOX 13 News.