Help Convince Me on Seattle Prop 1

I love transit. So much that I wish it were free for everyone through a progressive tax policy. I would like to see a progressive income tax in place in WA even though I’m a high earner. I’ve voted to support probably every transit-related measure to date.

But I’m really struggling with Seattle’s Prop 1 measure on the ballot. It will put in place a 0.3% sales tax in the city to replace the expiring 0.15%, increasing the sales tax rate by 0.15%.

My struggle is that sales tax is regressive and disproportionately impacts low earners – the very people who often need to rely more on transit services. I do see the value in what this will pay for and I don’t personally have a problem paying more sales tax myself, but I worry we are burying those that are already struggling to make ends meet. I do realize our options are limited, but…there has to be a better way, right?

Help convince me that adding another regressive sales tax is worth it for transit.