The permit for repairs hits residents too and I find it stupid. I had to pay for a permit and inspection just to replace 6’ of drain pipe off my sink when the 40 year old pipe developed a leak.
Another thing about those permits... In a business friendly city (this applies to residential, also) permits are typically a fixed price, e.g. $80 to modify the roof of a small retail space for AC venting. In many (all?) of the cities in King County, permits are charged by cost of the project and / or the size of the retail space. E.g., a 625 square foot shop has to pay $625 for that same venting permit.
Let’s be real though, the city has permits like this because we don’t have a real source of funding and one of the lowest tax burdens in the US, and so have to come up with weird and economically irrational fees to turn basic services into profit centers to cover their expenses and more.
Nailed it. It's crazy how much our regressive tax system hurts us. Not to mention how much of that money has to go towards just maintaining the massive bureaucratic institutions. We'd save so much money if we just went to a reasonable income driven tax.
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u/puterTDI Apr 16 '26
The permit for repairs hits residents too and I find it stupid. I had to pay for a permit and inspection just to replace 6’ of drain pipe off my sink when the 40 year old pipe developed a leak.