Avoiding TBD sales tax (legally)

Port Townsend’s new 0.3% Transportation Benefit District (TBD) sales tax will take effect on January 1, 2024.

So, if you live in the county outside of the Port Townsend city limits but are in the 98368 ZIP code, you could be paying a higher sales tax rate next year unless you update your mailing address.

Non-Port Townsend places in 98368 include Adelma Beach, Cape George, Discovery Bay, Kala Point, Maynard, Tukey, … others.

For purchases made in-person at stores that are in 98368 but outside of Port Townsend, merchants will need to update their systems before January 1 to make sure they don’t charge that extra 0.3% tax.

But to avoid paying that higher sales tax on anything that you order online or have shipped to you, YOU will need to make sure that every merchant that has your mailing address uses the correct, full 9-digit ZIP code (aka, ZIP+ 4).

With so much being bought online these days from Amazon and others, this will be particularly important because your delivery address is what determines how much sales tax you pay.

Check your receipts!

Tom Thiersch

Jefferson County, WA

Free, fair elections

Free, fair, and accurate elections are a basic tenet of our democracy. The Election Observers of the League of Women Voters-Jefferson County take pride in being present to witness the diligence of Jefferson County’s Election Staff as they undertook their duties.

Our observers--Toyoko, Debbi, Deb, Angela, and Marilyn--witnessed the County’s entire regulation-driven ballot process, from the opening of the ballot boxes to the six-batch audit. Watching the dedication and strict adherence to rules followed by our elections staff gave us confidence in the accuracy of the vote-counting process.

The League of Women Voters-Jefferson County is open to any resident of the county 16 years old or older. To learn more about voting rights and the League’s voter education, vote-counting procedures, and non-partisan mission, please visit www.lwvwa.org/Jefferson.

Angela Gyurko

President, LWVJC Unit-at-Large

Angela  Gyurko, Port Townsend

Teasing Vegans

It used to be easy, and fun, to tease vegans. In fact, we didn’t call them vegans in the old days: we called them grazers.

We’d joke about where they got their protein and if they chewed their cud. It’s gotten way tougher now. As soon as you start your tease they come back at you with statistics about how we eat way more protein than is good for us and how much water and land it takes to produce a quarter pound of beef, or they’ll pontificate about meat’s implication in a variety of serious health impacts. Occasionally you’ll get “The Sneer” and a pompous lecture about the immorality of animal agriculture. If we had a bit more forests to cut down, and turn into pasture, and a bit more fresh water, it wouldn’t be quite so difficult to find a comeback to their annoying “only one earth” diatribe.

It would also be helpful if the data on the health effects of meat consumption weren’t so scary. Systemic inflammation doesn’t sound like much fun. The documentaries on the treatment of animals raised for consumption also don’t help at all. You do have to wonder how such cruelty can be taken for granted by so many of us.

So, it’s getting tougher to tease vegans nowadays, but don’t give up. There’s a lot to be said for the health benefits of humor.

 Jens  Abrahamsen, Langley

On Shed Boys

I was surprised your November 15 article on shed boys didn’t mention Rebecca Mizhir, a one-time Port Townsend writer for The Leader who was responsible for the term going viral long before we had social media. My memory is that the shed boys at the time were not necessarily young, and many relied on the kindness of the gainfully employed ladies in their lives for supplying creature comforts not available in their sheds.

Carol Cahill

Port Townsend

Highway 104 Truly Is Deadly 

Kudos to the Port Townsend Leader for publishing a very timely article regarding the 247 accidents on the 10 miles of SR 104 on the Olympic Peninsula side of the Hood Canal Bridge.

Local residents are very aware of this busy stretch of road because we need to make a dangerous left turn on to it to access the bridge and the Kitsap Peninsula. We have been anxious to receive news of an improvement plan, e.g., a round-about, but have heard nothing from the WSDOT lately.

On Sunday, November 12th, my husband and I dodged an accident on 104 near the bridge when we left a party in Bridgehaven (West of 104) by taking 104 North instead of South. On Wednesday, Nov. 15th, I read Lucrezia Paxson’s “Highway 104 Is Deadly” to my husband and was impressed with its coverage.

On Thursday, Nov. 16th, we were greeted at the Paradise Bay Rd. and 104 intersections by EMT’s and ambulances, police/fire department vehicles and personnel, and the remnants of a mighty crash between two pickups. The large Dodge Ram had been brought to its knees in the middle of the road, its entire front end decimated. The other truck that was carrying two countertop slabs was in a ditch across the road. The EMTs were loading the victims of this horrific crash into the ambulances.

Vehicles coming off the bridge onto the Olympic Peninsula race forward to climb the hill and beat out their competition after one lane becomes two and then merges shortly back into one lane. Vehicles approaching the bridge from the Olympic Peninsula speed up due to the incline and their desire to make it across the bridge while it is still open.

We understand the pressure on the WSDOT to improve the situation. We are just hopeful that they will do something soon.

Kathleen  Traci

Port Ludlow