Sometimes I can sense my age. I am getting older. The signs are here and there, like having to stretch before I run to avoid nagging injuries to ligaments, muscles, and bones. Another sign is irony. I think that’s the right word to describe the experience of having supported something then opposing it later — or the other way around. Someone reminded me today about the old head tax from 9 years ago. I fought for it and lost.

The old head tax was a charge to employees who drove to work. That tax raised about $4 million per year that paid for pedestrian infrastructure like crosswalks, signage, and sidewalks. For the average business the tax cost less than $100 per year and most business paid nothing. And if employees didn’t commute in a car the business paid nothing.

It all made good sense: tax something you want less of, single occupancy drivers, and the money paid for things to encourage not driving. And the tax was cheap for business.  But 2009 was the beginning of a huge downturn, business groups like the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA) wanted it gone.  It discouraged growth. Yep, back in those days the Council seemed to get the idea that taxes discouraged the things they are levied against.

So then, the Council complied and repealed the tax. I was about as mad and disgusted at the Council then for repealing the tax then as I am with them for passing it now.

But the differences are huge. That tax was small and actually followed my theory of taxation: it discouraged bad behavior, paid for things the market can’t pay for, and redistributed some money to people who walked instead of drive.  It was an efficient little tax. Most businesses filled out a form and paid nothing. Even huge businesses paid a couple thousand dollars a year. Meanwhile, we got small but important improvements like sidewalks.

The tax passed yesterday is dangerous because it is significant and may cause job loss, fewer jobs created, and reduction in employee hours.  And the new head tax doesn’t buy much, a few hundred units years from now. Hardly a bargain.

What hasn’t changed in nine years is my being on the losing side.

Later, I proposed an alternative:

Here’s my deal for the DSA. Seattle could improve on Oregon’s system. Let’s reinstate the “head tax” but, this time, we’ll collect the tax from employees who drive alone instead of their employers. It would be a use fee collected via payroll; it isn’t taxing wages like the payroll deduction for TriMet since we can’t legally tax wages in Washington. The charge per employee who drives alone to work would be a flat charge, say $25, collected on an annual basis from the employee’s paycheck. And the DSA should love the fact that this simpler method would be collecting money from the employee, not the business. And to deal with the [Richard Conlin’s] concern that $25 isn’t enough of a disincentive, the charge could rise by 25 percent a year over the length of an employee’s tenure. Gradually they’d feel the pinch and maybe get on the bus or try biking to work. More importantly the city would get its $4 million—and perhaps more over time—for improvements to make it more and more convenient and efficient for people to walk, bike, carpool, and ride transit to work rather than slugging it out in long, expensive, single-occupant car commutes

Did anyone pay attention? Nope. And this proves I am not anti-tax or a libertarian. So there is that. But I am getting older, and I guess it’s reassuring to see that some things never change.