Samis Land Co v Soap Lake :: 143 Wn2d 798
Category: Taxation and Fees
The City of Soap Lake enacted a fee of sixty dollars per year on all land that abutted a water and sewer line but were not connected to the utility. The City admitted the purpose was to generate revenue although they tried to argue the landowner was receiving a benefit. One issue not addressed in the published report was the subject of water and sewer connection charges. Was this yearly fee assessed in lieu of the sizable water and sewer connection charges imposed for a building permit? Not likely.
The majority noted that “unless sharp distinctions between fees and taxes are maintained in the law, ‘virtually all of what now are considered “taxes” could be transmuted into “user fees” by the simple expedient of dividing what are generally accepted as taxes into constituent parts. . .” [At 805, 06]. The Court concluded the “standby charge” was more like a tax than a fee. Justice Johnson dissented for environmental reasons. He saw this fee “as a means of minimizing environmental harm and ensuring safe drinking water.” [At 816]. Maybe he overlooked the fact the City admitted the primary purpose of the fee was to generate revenue; and maybe he doesn’t understand vacant land generates no sewage.
Rating the Usual Suspects:
| pass | Alexander, Gerry | |
| pass | Bridge, Bobbe | |
| pass | Brown, Stephen | |
| pass | Edwards, Scott | |
| pass | Guy, Richard | |
| pass | Ireland, Faith | |
| pass | Kato, Kenneth | |
| pass | Madsen, Barbara | |
| pass | Overstreet, Greg | |
| pass | Sanders, Richard | |
| pass | Schultheis, John | |
| pass | Severson, William C | |
| pass | Smith, Charles | |
| fail | Cleveland, Grover | |
| fail | DeJulio, P Stephen | |
| fail | Johnson, Charles | |
| fail | Jorgensen, Kenneth | |
| fail | Spitzer, Hugh | |
| fail | Wallace, Allan | |
| fail | Warring, Carl |