Dangerous Chunky is Back!

After a brief hiatus, one of my favorite Seattle art bloggers is at it again! Carolyn Zick, at Dangerous Chunky is posting up a storm. One recent post/proposal particularly piques my interest. You’ll have to read her post for all the well-considered details – but the Art Mobility Van is an idea whose time has come! How do we make it happen? I am GAME!

In thinking about this, I was wondering if Flexcar might be a suitable contributing partner for the AMV, and I was reminded of the new infuriating tax for renters of car-sharing vehicles. From FlexCar’s press release:

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.

As you know, car-sharing provides a valuable alternative to personal car-ownership and fosters increased use of public transportation among local residents. It is also a membership-based organization, making it significantly different in function and structure from traditional car-rental. And, as opposed to regular car renters who are paying the tax, most of the users of Flexcar are local residents, who are already footing local tax bills. Thus, we at Flexcar are working with the Department of Revenue to determine if/how we can gain an exemption from this tax, as has happened in Portland.

I know this is not exactly Henry or even art-related, but I do know an awful lot of Flexcar-ing artists and arts people in Seattle who’ll be pretty sad to see this happen.