Last week, a Seattle judge ruled that Tim Eyman’s latest tax-limiting measure, I-1366, was unconstitutional, despite being approved by voters in November.
The initiative aimed to cut sales tax by 1 percent beginning in April, unless state lawmakers allowed a public vote on an amendment that would require a two-thirds supermajority in the Legislature for future tax increases. The Seattle Times reports that, on Thursday, the judge ruled it was a “thinly disguised effort to propose a constitutional amendment — which can’t be done by initiative in Washington.”
The ruling is not only a victory for Eyman’s opponents, but for the entirety of the state government as well. In the past three months, multiple state and county government departments have pointed to Eyman’s initiatives as a reason for declining services or their inability to continue offering services.
In November, Washington State Ferries chief Lynne Griffith said that Eyman’s I-695, which passed in 1999 and abolished the state’s vehicle excise tax, is one of the many reasons that the department is hurting financially.
“When Initiative 695 occurred, we lost significant funding. That’s a difficult situation to plan around, and that has to come into play when talking about replacing vessels,” Griffith said in November.
Last week, King County Roads Services Division Director Brenda Bauer said that the same initiative, combined with the recession, caused her to lay off 44 percent of her staff since 2009 and is contributing to the division’s more than $200 million annual shortfall.
One decade after I-695’s passage, the Kitsap Sun reported that the initiative had saved an average of $140 per car per year, or about $3,000 since 1999 for a two-car family. But the cheap car tabs come with a cost: The article reported that 47 percent of the license tab money had gone to state transportation, 29 percent to local transit and 24 percent to cities and counties.
“To recoup it, many agencies raised fees, cut services or both, and opponents of Eyman now point to the initiative as an example of how public services are hurt after such reductions,” the article states.
Eyman’s initiatives look great to taxpayers on paper, promising lower taxes and more money in the pockets of the hardworking citizens of Washington. What Eyman and citizens who vote for his initiatives do not understand is the fact that initiatives such as these just redirect money that government entities need. Initiative 695 abolished the collecting of tax on car tabs, but it also led to increased ferry fees and the reduction of service from multiple government agencies, services that residents desperately need. Taxes should be fair and reasonable, but are necessary for living in a developed society. Without them, we would have no services.
