Monthly Archives: September 2009

Kemper Freeman’s Shortsighted $25,000 Contribution to Eyman’s Initiative 1033

Posted on September 9th, 2009 | Comments Off on Kemper Freeman’s Shortsighted $25,000 Contribution to Eyman’s Initiative 1033

The Seattle Times today gives prominent front page coverage to Kemper Freeman’s long range plans at Bellevue Square. The article is in response to the opening of the upscale “The Shops at the Braven” only a few blocks away from Bellevue Square. A Neiman Marcus store is one of the new shops opening in the new retail shopping area.

Freeman is reported spending $40 million in a recent remodel of Bellevue Square. He has lots of money tied up in his real estate and that has to mean high property taxes. Was that his motivation behind his contribution of $25,000 on June 4, 2009 to help Tim Eyman get his signatures to get Initiative 1033 on this November’s ballot? After Michael Dunmire’s $300,000 contribution, Kemper Freeman’s is the second largest cash contribution to Initiative 1033. Michael Dunmire is a retired investment banker that lives in Woodinville.

Kemper Freeman’s contribution was given through his real estate development company – Kemper Holdings LLC based in Bellevue Washington.

From a civic betterment and community economic sense Freeman’s contribution makes no sense. I-1033 is will freeze all revenue spending by Bellevue, King County and the state of Washington at it’s current recession level. As the economy improves Bellevue will not be able to invest new tax dollars like from increased sales taxes in making improvements in the Bellevue community – no additional money for street repairs or sidewalks or parks or additional police or fire protection. Any expenditures above the baseline would require a public referendum.

But maybe Kemper Freeman is a cynic and sees I-1033 for what it is – a wealth transfer scheme from renters and low income working families and seniors that don’t have property but who will still pay sales taxes, to property owners to help them pay less property taxes.

Initiative 1033 disperses its property tax reductions from the fund Eyman sets up called lower property taxes fund into which any revenue above this year’s spending level goes. As the economy improves the property tax reductions increase.

State law requires all property to be treated the same. Some 40% of property taxes are for commercial property. The State Office of Financial Management has estimated that I-1033 will reduce state revenue by some $8.7 billion over the next 5 years.

Of course the more property one owns the more of a reduction in total dollars property owners will see. So Kemper Freeman will get a great return on his $25,000 investment if voters make the mistake of approving I-1033.

Maybe Kemper Freeman is not really concerned about renters and senior citizens and working families that own no property who will see no property tax rebate or new public services. After all how many go to Bellevue Square now to shop. The bulk of shoppers at Bellevue Square are higher income and property owners. If they see reduced property taxes Kemper Freeman will be providing them an upscale mall to spend their dollars at.

Call me a cynic but Kemper Freeman has no heart. It’s all about the money – his money.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Right Wing, Washington State Legislature

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A warning on Initiative 1033 from California

Posted on September 8th, 2009 | Comments Off on A warning on Initiative 1033 from California

In an article by Peter Schrag about California in 1996 we get this following warning on approving Eyman style measures that put unnecessary restrictions on representative government:

“…ever since the passage of Proposition 13, the mother of all latter-day tax revolts, in June 1978, the state has been locked into a vicious cycle in which each plebiscitary reform, by either mandating or prohibiting certain policies, has sharply reduced the discretion of elected officials. This, in turn, has made it still harder for local and state government to respond to new problems, thus bringing still more pressure for extraordinary ballot measures.”

This process continued and we see the mess it put California in.

You can read the full article here:
http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=take_the_initiative_please

Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 on the November ballot is proposing a radical restructuring of how Washington State’s 39 counties and 381 cities and the State Government should operate. Eyman is proposing abolishing having state legislators and city councils and county councils make budget decisions above an arbitrary spending level based on this year’s recession budget. He would turn over decision making above the current level to a referendum process where voters would be the only ones to make decisions.

Budget making by referendum costs money because elections cost money. And elections are influenced by campaigning and sound bites and slogans and money. Just how much more complicated do we want to make the process of deciding local budgets and spending?

I -1033 is not a simple measure. This aspect of abolishing local control by cities and counties and deciding where tax revenue should go repeated referendums is a strong reason to vote against Tim Eyman’s I-1033.

Voters need to understand I-1033 proposes radical change in the way cities and counties would function. I-1033 says reducing property taxes for property owners is more important than anything else, than police and fire protection, schools, parks, libraries, health care, our courts, clean drinking water, garbage control, gangs, community centers and on and on.

The only thing any tax dollars raised over this year’s recession spending limit can be spent for is for helping property owners. Forget that renters and seniors and working families that don’t own property will still pay the same amount of taxes under I-1033 as they do today; however they will get no property tax rebate and no new services either. They lose twice.

Welcome to anti-tax and anti-government Tim Eyman’s world. Press escape (vote No) to get back to the real world.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Right Wing, Washington State Legislature

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Initiative 1033 Cuts $8.7 Billion From Public Services by 2015

Posted on September 7th, 2009 | Comments Off on Initiative 1033 Cuts $8.7 Billion From Public Services by 2015

Tim Eyman’s 1033 would cut public services by Washington State and its counties and cities by some $8.7 billion over the first 5 years it is in effect. This is on top of current cuts due to the recession we are in.

Because I-1033 would freeze public services at this year’s level next year plus a small adjustment for inflation and population it functions to continue our recession level spending and doesn’t allow for services cut to balance the budget this year to be restored even if the economy improves.. Such actions would surely contribute to continuing Washington State in a recession mode economy and we would lag behind others states in our economic recovery.

The fiscal impact of I-1033 has been determined by the Office of Financial Management to be almost $9 billion over the next 5 years. Specifically they said:

“The initiative reduces state general fund revenues that support education; social, health and environmental services; and general government activities by an estimated $5.9 billion by 2015. The initiative also reduces general fund revenues that support public safety, infrastructure and general government activities by an estimated $694 million for counties and $2.1 billion for cities by 2015.”

Here’s the link to the original document -“Fiscal Impact Statement by the Office of Financial Management” so you can read it yourself.

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/initiatives/i-1033_fiscal_impact.pdf

I-1033 would use these funds to offset property taxes. Our current state and local tax burden per capita according to the conservative Tax Foundation ranks us as 35th (with being the highest). Our property taxes rank 25th. Our per capita income ranks 8th.

Using future tax revenue over the baseline to offset property taxes is an income distribution scheme that benefits those that own property but hurts renters and low income families and seniors and working families that do not own property. They will still pay the same taxes but they will see no rebate on their taxes or services that might have been funded with this money.

The big winners under Eyman’s I-1033 are big property owners, corporations, businesses, shopping mall owners, and real estate developers. I-1033 is a reverse Robin Hood scheme taking taxes paid by the poor and using them to pay property taxes for wealthy property owners.

Some 40% of this special interest tax break will go to pay commercial real estate property taxes. Only 65% of households in our state are owner occupied. So 35% of households will see no property tax rebate.

I-1033 is a poorly worded and complex measure that deserves to be rejected by voters. Vote NO on I-1033 this November 3rd, 2009.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Right Wing, Washington State Legislature

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Initiative 1033 – Abolishing Local Control of Ciies and Counties

Posted on September 7th, 2009 | Comments Off on Initiative 1033 – Abolishing Local Control of Ciies and Counties

Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 would wreck havoc on the idea of local control of cities and counties. Tim Eyman’s one size fits all measure would remove the authority of Washington State cities and towns to control their budgets and spending.

It would impose Tim Eyman’s legislative priority that the most important thing local governments can do, when the economy improves from this recession and more revenue comes in, is help large property owners, real estate developers, mall owners and other businesses and corporations pay their property taxes.

Initiative 1033 would not just deal with the Washington State budget and spending but also puts the same rigid freeze mechanism on spending in place for all 39 Washington counties and 281 cities. Any money above the current year’s spending level must be put in a “Lower Property Tax Account” for each city and county.

Gone would be the ability of elected city council members and the Mayor and county council members to decide how to spend any revenue that comes in above this year’s spending level. It would all go to pay property taxes for property owners in cities and counties.

Eyman says paying property taxes for property owners is a higher priority than restoring any services lost during the current recession due to decreased revenue. He says it’s a higher priority than making sure parks and libraries can stay open, than paying for police and fire protection, than fixing roads or providing public transit or providing health care or help for seniors and the disabled.

If you want to fund any of these programs beyond the current budget level you will have to go to a vote of the people to get approval. This will be the new way all cities ant counties (and the state) will have to operate. It will be budget approval by referendum.

Of course this won’t be free as elections cost money. And then there will be campaign spending for and against any increased spending. And sound bites and campaigning. It’s how California got into their budget quagmire, having campaigns waged for and against spending this or that.

Gone will be legislative deliberations and public meetings and input on budgets and spending. It’ll now be based on polling and politics.

This whole process of reorganizing how local governments makes decisions is the opposite of local control by local taxpayers. Rather than local voters deciding how they want to run their city and county, Eyman proposes that state voters should make this decision for all 39 counties and 281 cities.

This sounds like the worst of ideas, and if Eyman hadn’t stolen this idea from national supporters of TABOR type legislation and Colorado you would think he would be on the other side railing against big government running roughshod over local governments.

If cities and counties want to put this “budgets by referendum” scheme in place they should be able to decide for themselves, not have it decided by state voters. This is overkill and abusive having a statewide vote dictate how local public entities like Spokane or Yakima or Vancouver or Whatcom County or Clark County or Pierce County have to run their governments.

Voters should keep local control of their cities and counties and vote against I-1033 this November 3, 2009 . Keep Eyman from meddling in your local government’s business and vote no on I-1033.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Right Wing, Washington State Legislature

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Initiative 1033 -Eyman’s Sugar Coated Poison Pill

Posted on September 3rd, 2009 | Comments Off on Initiative 1033 -Eyman’s Sugar Coated Poison Pill

I-1033’s goal is to freeze government spending, that’s the poison pill Eyman’s hiding. Giving voters the illusion that they’re going to see some reduction in property taxes is the sugar coating covering this goal that he hopes will induce voter’s to unknowingly swallow the poison pill.

Eyman’s fear mongering of out of control government spending and runaway taxes is over hyped. Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society. He supports a limited role of government in society and a free market economy where it’s everyone for themselves.

I support a role for government that helps and assists. I much prefer our representative style of government that deliberates and involves public input into writing our laws and budgets and sets priorities.

I-1033 is a bad idea. It is a radical approach that is complex. It imposes a permanent freeze on public spending for services that everyone uses. The freeze does not take into account any public needs. It imposes a cumbersome costly process of voter referendums to raise revenue for any reason at the city, county and state level.

It is a reverse Robin Hood wealth transfer scheme that takes tax dollars from the poor and gives them to the wealthy to reduce their property taxes. Renters, senior citizens and working families will still pay sales taxes and other taxes but if they own no property they will see no benefit from I-1033.

Large property owners, like shopping malls, real estate developers and corporate property owners, will see the most benefit from the special tax break Eyman is giving them at the expense of providing public services.

It is an unnecessary and costly shell game transferring money from the less fortunate to wealthy property owners, businesses and corporations to pay their property taxes.

I am not crying wolf as to its impacts. We already have seen the results and impacts of this approach in Colorado. Go to http://www.teachersalaryinfo.org/ and see how this approach of freezing public spending and services has decimated Colorado’s educational system.

The average teacher salary in Colorado is the lowest in the country. The average teacher salary in Colorado compared to the median household income is 49th lowest out of 50 states. Do we want to compete with Colorado to see who can have the lowest teacher salaries?

I-1033 is a radical experiment we don’t need to try in Washington State to know what will happen. It was tried in Colorado and failed. Public services have plummeted there.

I-1033 will lock us into a permanent recession, prohibiting state and local governments from restoring services lost as a result of the recession. Things are already bad enough without making them worse.

I-1033 also prohibits any new investments in public infrastructure and services and ignores changing demographics like more seniors needing help as the population ages.

Just Vote No on Initiative 1033 and keep Eyman out of our pockets. Dealing with budgets by referendum has failed in California and isn’t needed here.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Right Wing, Washington State Legislature

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Renters Beware! Eyman’s Initiative 1033 Will Rip You Off.

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off on Renters Beware! Eyman’s Initiative 1033 Will Rip You Off.

A little known fact about Eyman’s Initiative 1033 is that renters are the big losers under the initiative. The big winner’s will be large property owners and corporations and businesses that own property.

Why renters lose is that they will not see a reduction in sales taxes or other taxes they pay. Last year sales taxes accounted for 57% of state revenue collected. But because renters are not property owners they will not share in the special tax break Eyman is proposing under I-1033.

With Initiative 1033 Eyman is proposing a radical restructuring of Washington State’s tax structure and governance. Initiative 1033 freezes public services by only allowing spending each year to increase above this year’s baseline by a slight adjustment for inflation and population.

Adjusting for inflation only allows you to purchase this year’s services next year at next year’s inflated prices. If a gallon of gasoline for a fire truck or police cruiser costs $2.60 this year and next year costs $3.00 and you adjust spending to pay $3.00, has government grown? No, you’re not providing more services, only keeping up with inflation.

But if the economy grows next year, all tax revenue like from increased sales taxes will go into a special fund Eyman calls the “Lower Property Taxes Account”. There is one set up for the State and each city and county under the initiative. New revenue will not be spent for restoring lost public services as a result of cuts this year or investing in new public infrastructure.

Now everyone pays sales taxes and you’ll still pay the same sales taxes under I-1033. We currently have the highest sales taxes in the country. But rather than any excess money going to fund services cut this year or investing in public infrastructure or jobs or education Eyman says the only priority for using this tax revenue next year that is over this year’s spending level is to provide a special tax break for property owners.

It is not a tax break to specifically help seniors or struggling working families who may rent but not own homes. It is only to benefit property owners. The more property you own the more of a tax break you will get.

Because property taxes must be uniform, the special tax break must dedicate 40% of its money to lowering commercial real estate taxes. That’s right, 40% of any excess tax dollars next year and every year thereafter as defined by Eyman must assist corporations and shopping malls and real estate developers pay their taxes. Eyman says this is more important than funding education, or repairing our roads, or keeping parks and libraries open, or increasing teachers pay, or hiring new police or firemen, or cleaning up Puget Sound, or any of the other public services our state, counties and counties provide.

The US Census Bureau says that only 65% of households in Washington State are owner occupied. That means some 35% of households are renters. They will still pay sales taxes and other taxes but because they don’t own property they will see no refund of their taxes dollars.

Thus renters are double losers. They lose twice because they don’t get any refund of tax dollars since they own no property and they see no use of their tax dollars to provide increased public services they can use.

I-1033 is another poorly thought out and written Eyman initiative. Voters would be wise to vote no and protect their pocketbooks and themselves from this ill advised and unfair special tax break. Initiative 1033 robs taxpayers by diverting tax dollars raised for the public good to provide a tax break that benefits wealthy property owners the most.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Eyman’s I-1033 Says Paying Corporate Property Taxes More Important than Educating State’s Children

Posted on September 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off on Eyman’s I-1033 Says Paying Corporate Property Taxes More Important than Educating State’s Children

Initiative 1033 on this November’s ballot is Tim Eyman’s clone of a failed Colorado measure. It proposes to freeze state and local government programs permanently by limiting the growth of tax revenue to the current year’s spending plus a slight adjustment for inflation.

Any money over this year’s spending as adjusted will go into a special account to reduce property taxes. What Eyman hasn’t told anyone is that 40% of this special tax break will go to Washington businesses and corporations. That’s because the fund must reduce all property taxes equally. And currently 40% of property taxes are paid by businesses.

And of the remaining 60% in the fund only 65% of that will go to help homeowners who own their home. The other 35% of households in the state will not see any tax break or return on their taxes they paid. They lose twice because they also will not see any increase in public services as a result of their paying taxes over the baseline.

Initiative I-1033 is a complex measure that actually turns out to provide a special tax break to property owners at the expense of not providing public services.

If you collect tax dollars like sales taxes everyone pays does it make sense to use them to give a special tax break that benefits wealthy property owners at the expense of not providing public services like educating our kids or paying for public safety or having libraries open and parks open?

Colorado has tried Eyman’s proposed freeze on public services since 1992. Looking at how they now fund education will gives us a frightening glimpse of Washington State’s future if voters pass I-1033.

I came across the following website, www/teachersalaryinfo.com which graphically compares 5 different factors on teacher salaries across the country. The information below is taken from this website.

The average teacher’s salary in Colorado compared to median household income showed Colorado ranking 49th (with 1 being the highest) among the 50 states. An estimate showed that teachers in Colorado made about $32,000 below the median income.

Another graph showed Colorado teachers ranking 50th lowest in salary compared to other states. Washington State by comparison ranked 24th lowest – and we know the lack of funding currently in this state to raise teacher’s salaries.

Another graph shows Colorado’s average teacher salary compared to the median home price in Colorado as 44th lowest out of 50 states.

Is this the future for Washington State if voters approve I-1033? You can’t freeze education spending under I-1033 and expect that there will be any spare change to raise teacher’s salaries in the future. In fact because many public services like Medicaid and education increase in cost faster than the consumer price index adjustment in I-1033, cuts will have to be made to existing services as their costs rise faster than the consumer inflation index.

Colorado once ranked 35th in education spending. It’s now 49th because of this problem.

So you decide – is it more important to give wealthy property owners and corporations a special property tax break or help our children get a quality education by investing our tax dollars in them?

I think we’ll all lose if we don’t fund our educational system and have good teachers. How many teachers are going to stay in Washington State if we are competing with Colorado to see who can pay the educators of our children the least amount of money? Is this another Eyman brilliant idea or not?

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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