One of the most regressive sales taxes in the country. Also property taxes.

Looking at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_taxes_in_the_United_Stat... I see 12 states with the same base rate as Washington or higher, and another 14 or so just 0.5% behind. I see 13 states with the same "max with local surtax" or higher.

Washington does levy sales tax on clothing, but apparently so do most states.

So the sales tax is a bit above median, but doesn't seem any more regressive than other states per se. And is lower than California's.

Property taxes have more to do with it, I suspect, especially given the mess in California with those.

The funny thing is, the effective new property tax rate in Oakland or SF is something like %1.2-%1.5, which is bigger than Seattle King County's tax rate of %1. And Seattle has better roads than the bay area, no state income tax, a lower sales tax and has rainy weather. I don't get it.

> the effective new property tax rate in Oakland or SF is something like %1.2-%1.5

Do you mean the tax rate on new properties? Or the effective rate actually collected, given the restrictions on how much property taxes can rise, etc? I thought one problem in California was that the latter figure, which is the more relevant one, was very low as a result of Prop 13.

The other problem in California is that it just seems to not spend money very well, as far as I can tell...

Yeah. The tax rate that is collected whenever you buy a property and 'reset' the prop 13 timer. %1 for the base rate, plus a bunch of other one off fixed charges that add up to the %0.2-%0.5 rate. People who have had prop 13 properties for decades have something like a %0.3 equivalent property tax rate.

Seattle most assuredly does not have better roads than the bay area - I noticed a stark difference when I moved up a few years ago.

Has anyone ever tried submitting a GPL request to http://support.linksys.com/en-us/gplcodecenter

I wonder if there is anyone still working in the GPL compliance department.

They don't have to provide the sources forever... Seemingly the model in question (WAG200G) is originally from 2007.

Excerpt from the GPL [1] (paragraph 6b):

"You may [...] Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product [...], accompanied by a written offer, valid for at least three years and valid for as long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that product model, to give anyone who possesses the object code either (1) a copy of the Corresponding Source for all the software in the product that is covered by this License [...]."

[1]: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html