The Washington State Ballot this November has five tax advisory votes which are very confusing to most people.
These tax advisory votes were put there by Tim Eyman’s Initiative 960 as his attempt to increase public resentment to any “tax” measures even when they benefit the larger public. The ballot title for each is basically written as an anti-tax push poll based on Eyman’s ballot title language in Initiative 960 that stipulated the ballot title wording.
They carry no Legislative weight as they only record voters opinions. In essence they are like a public opinion poll paid for by taxpayers. But Eyman tries to use them to show public opposition to funding public services by wording them such that voters will be inclined to respond negatively to any tax increase. Under Eyman’s definition of tax increases he also includes any efforts by the Legislature to repeal any tax exemptions or tax expenditures even if they are tax loopholes that only benefit special interests and not the general public.
Deciphering the ballot title language is very tricky and confusing. It waspurposely written to try to get voters to vote to repeal any tax increase passed by the Legislature. And unlike initiatives, the writeup on the so called tax advisory votes in the voter’s pamphlet contain no explanatory statement, no pro and con statements, and no fiscal impact statement.
In fact the State Attorney General had no real ability to even try to fairly explain the issue in the ballot title since Eyman’s initiative 960 required that the ballot tile be written as:
The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people, (identification of tax and description of increase), costing (most up-to-date ten-year cost projection, expressed in dollars and rounded to the nearest million) in its first ten years, for government spending. This tax increase should be:
Repealed . . .[ ]
Maintained . . .[ ]
I have made bold the mandatory wording required which by itself is intended to encourage people to vote to repeal any “tax increase”.
Both Democrats and Republicans voted by wide margins in the Legislature to approve all 5 of these measures, including to repeal some tax exemptions and fix the inheritance tax exclusion set up by a court decision, to secure revenue to help fund the budget.
Voters should vote to “maintain” these legislative decisions.
Advisory Vote No. 3 (Substitute Senate Bill 5444)
Ballot Title
The legislature eliminated, without a vote of the people, a leasehold excise tax credit for taxpayers who lease publicly-owned property, costing approximately $2,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
[ ] Repealed
[X ] Maintained
Advisory Vote No. 4 (Senate Bill 5627)
Ballot Title
The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people, an aircraft excise tax on commuter air carriers in lieu of property tax, costing approximately $500,000 in its first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [ X ]
Advisory Vote No. 5 (Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1846)
Ballot Title
The legislature extended, without a vote of the people, the insurance premium tax to some insurance for pediatric oral services, costing an amount that cannot currently be estimated, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [X ]
Advisory Vote No. 6 (Second Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1971)
Ballot Title
The legislature eliminated, without a vote of the people, a retail sales tax exemption for certain telephone and telecommunications services, costing approximately $397,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [X ]
Advisory Vote No. 7 (Engrossed House Bill 2075)
Ballot Title
The legislature extended, without a vote of the people, estate tax on certain property transfers and increased rates for estates over $4,000,000, costing approximately $478,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [X ]
For additional information on these measures see the Washington State Voters Pamphlet which gives links to the actual bills passed by the Legislature. Click on the tab “full text” to read the original bill as passed by the Washington State Legislature.
You can also refer to the statement in the Progressive Voters Guide.
The Tax Advisory Vote requirement in I-960 is a waste of taxpayer dollars, both in the added costs to print up and tally ballot votes and the extra cost to print up Eyman’s required material in the Voters pamphlet. They represent an abuse of the public electoral process in that they are no more than a biased anti-tax slanted push poll conducted at public expense. The Advisory Tax Vote requirement in I-960 needs to be either repealed by legislators or the voters.
Tax Advisory Votes Might Not Mean Much But Cost a Lot, Seattle Times, July 16, 2013
Voters to Send Pricey Telegram with Five Tax Advisory Votes -Legislators will get scarlet letter, Erik Smith, Washington State Wire, July 23, 2013
