Yesterday, Ben from Capitol Hill hipped me to some information that I apparently missed in the September Flexcar newsletter:

Beginning October 1, 2007, car-sharing in Seattle will be subject to a state-authorized, county-administered rental-car tax of 9.7%. This means that Flexcar Seattle members will be charged this 9.7% tax, in addition to the existing sales tax, bringing your total tax amount to 18.7% for any car-sharing usage on or after October 1.

If this ain’t a prime candidate for an Out of Service…

What are we* doing here? Are we seriously going to impose a tourist tax on people who live here and are doing their part to get cars off the road?

If you want to know more about the tax increase, check out Alan Durning’s recent post. If you think it’s as silly as I do, sign this petition.

* Note: I still don’t know who’s behind this decision. It certainly doesn’t seem consistent with the philosophy of our county leadership. Can anyone help?