Tag Archives: initiative 1033

Watch Video on Why I-1033 Would be Bad for Washington State

Posted on August 13th, 2009 | Comments Off on Watch Video on Why I-1033 Would be Bad for Washington State

Initiative 1033 is Tim Eyman’s Washington State version of Colorado’s TABOR law (Taxpayers Bill of Rights). It’s been a dismal failure. It has permanently decreased Colorado’s level of basic services by using the same inflation plus population growth limits. Voter’s recently put the measure on hold to try to undo some of it’s disastrous impacts. You can watch a great video and listen yourself to how Coloradoans now feel about their disastrous experiment. We don’t need Washington State to become a Tim Eyman experiment. Vote No on I-1033 this November 3rd, 2009.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Why I-1033 Limits on Spending Growth Won’t Work

Posted on August 7th, 2009 | Comments Off on Why I-1033 Limits on Spending Growth Won’t Work

Colorado has had the experience of living under the growth limits on government spending that Tim Eyman is proposing with I-1033 . The Colorado measure was called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights or TABOR. It was passed by Colorado voters in 1992 as a constitutional amendment and placed strict limits on spending by local and state government. The end result was a drastic decease in public services in Colorado.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a good analysis of some of the many problems Colorado has had and you can go to their website for more detailed information.

I’ve reproduced a section below from their website which addresses some of the specific problems that exist with inflation and population only growth limits like Eyman proposes in I-1033. The magic potion Eyman claims I-1033 is, is actually a very toxic potion that will act as a poison on our state in many ways.

Limiting government spending to only population and inflation growth each year like I-1033 does creates real problems and does not provide for growth of services. It is in the best of times a freeze on government programs and in the worst of times actually decreases government services.

Here the analysis done by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities based on the real experiment with this legislation in Colorado that points out some real problems.

“Why a Population plus Inflation Growth Formula Cannot Provide a Constant Level of Public Services

There are several reasons why states cannot provide a constant level of public services under a population-plus-inflation formula.

■No existing measure of inflation — neither the Consumer Price Index nor the GDP deflator nor any other measure — correctly captures the growth in the cost of the kinds of services purchased in the public sector. State governments, for instance, are major purchasers of health care, the costs of which are rising far faster than the general rate of inflation.
■In most states, a rising share of the state population is utilizing public services. For instance, the number of senior citizens in most states is rising faster than the general population, putting new burdens on programs such as Medicaid.
■States often face the burden of providing new or expanded services for reasons outside the control of lawmakers. These include court mandates to increase school funding or other services, response to natural disasters or public health emergencies, major economic shifts such as plant closings, or other reasons.
■In an era of large federal deficits, states are increasingly expected to finance a substantial share of new domestic priorities. Some of these expectations take the form of formal mandates, such as the additional education expenditures required under the No Child Left Behind law. Others may reflect what one analyst has called “underfunded expectations,” such as the expectation that states and local governments will provide heightened levels of security as part of the war on terrorism.
■New public priorities may require new funding from states above and beyond levels of inflation. Recent state initiatives in areas such as K-12 class size reduction, prescription drug coverage for seniors, college scholarships for students with high levels of academic achievement, and other initiatives generally cannot be accommodated under the population-growth-plus-inflation formula.
It is important to note that all state programs — not just those with cost pressures exceeding the population-growth-plus-inflation level — are threatened by a rigid population-growth-plus-inflation limit. This is because such limits typically cover nearly all areas of state and local spending. So, if one spending area is forced to grow faster than the rate allowed under the limit (for instance due to court order, federal mandate or popular demand), then another spending area must grow at a slower pace — which is to say that in terms of the level of service provided, that second spending area must actually shrink.”

We don’t need to repeat the Colorado experience in Washington State. Vote No on Initiative 1033 this November 3rd. Keep local control of government services and keep government flexibility to respond to changing needs.

for more information on the campaign go to www.no1033.com

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Eyman Continues to Use Erroneous Information to Support I-1033 Overtaxed Rant

Posted on August 2nd, 2009 | Comments Off on Eyman Continues to Use Erroneous Information to Support I-1033 Overtaxed Rant

Part of the impetus behind Initiative 1033 according to Tim Eyman is his repeated rant that Washington State is overburdened with State and Local Taxes. Hence his claim that Washington State is 8th highest in terms of tax burden. He cites a recent Forbes magazine article as his source of information.

The problem is that the information is wrong and was miscalculated by Forbes. It’s even noted by a number of people in the comment thread that the article presents erroneous information like saying Hawaii has no property tax when it does and someone else noting that Washington’s ranking is calculated wrongly.

Here is Washington State, the Department of Revenue looked at the figures and came up with the following analysis entitled “Tax Rankings can be Misleading”

Tax rankings are a popular way of comparing tax burdens among states, but the results can be misleading. A recent report by Forbes Magazine that Washington ranked eighth-highest in personal taxes per capita is an example of how apples sometimes get compared to oranges.

The Forbes comparison purports to only count personal taxes paid by state residents, but erred by mistakenly counting Washington’s Business and Occupation Tax as a personal tax while excluding corporate income and other business taxes paid in other states. That error occurred because the Census Bureau classifies the B&O tax as a sales tax, and the Forbes analysts failed to notice that. Excluding the B&O tax as it should have done would have dropped Washington’s ranking substantially. In addition, because the ranking only compares certain state taxes and leaves out local taxes, the Forbes ranking fails to take into account some unique aspects of Washington’s tax system.

Washington has a state school property tax levy that flows into the state general fund only to be redistributed to local schools. In other states, all property taxes for schools remain at the local level. The ranking also assumes that only individuals pay sales and property taxes, when in fact businesses pay a substantial share. The only accurate way to compare tax burdens is by comparing both state and local taxes among states. By that measure, Washington ranks 19th-highest per capita and 35th-highest in taxes as a percentage of personal income, http://www.taxfoundation.org/files/sr163.pdf. Economists generally prefer measuring as a percentage of personal income because it takes into account economic activity and demand for services. Rankings have become a popular staple among certain national publications, but they can be misleading. The most recent Forbes ranking is one of those. After being contacted by the Department, Forbes subsequently published a tax ranking based on the Tax Foundation’s analysis.

In its August 2008 report, entitled “State – Local Tax Burden Dip as Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth” the Tax Foundation ranks Washington State as 35th (with 1 being the highest) in terms of state and local tax burden per capita. Eyman of course ignores this analysis because its pretty hard for him to continue has rant of saying we’re overburdened with state and local taxes when we rank 35th in terms of state and local tax burden compared to other states.

A similar analysis of some of Eyman’s false claims can be found on the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate.

see also our earlier post “Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 Overtaxed Hoax“

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Did Eyman Forget to Turn in all His Petitions for Initiative 1033?

Posted on July 26th, 2009 | Comments Off on Did Eyman Forget to Turn in all His Petitions for Initiative 1033?

I guess its time for another Eyman Initiative 1033 grassroots joke. In two separate comment threads over on Crosscut on Initiative 1033 Tim Eyman makes the following statement:

“out of 48,148 supporters who were mailed a I-1033 petition in February, an extraordinary 34,588 sent back a partially filled or fully filled petitions”

Over at the Northwest Progressive Institute Advocate, Andrew reported that:

“The Secretary of State’s office tells NPI that they received 19,317 petitions, not all of which are full. Eyman claimed to have submitted 314,277 signatures. “

So what happened to the remaining 15,271 petitions from his grassroots supporters? Did Eyman lose the extra petitions? Or is it again just another example of Eyman trying to falsely hype what is really a dismal grassroots effort? Didn’t Eyman get into trouble for something like this before? I think it was about not being paid when he was because he thought it sounded better to say he was working for free even when he wasn’t.

I’m sure Eyman’s not in any legal trouble on this, it’s just another one of many times that he is fast and lose with facts and figures, trying to put a spin on something to say what he thinks people want to hear or what he thinks sounds better for his self image. In this he is trying to convince people what a tremendous grassroots effort this campaign is when in reality it was mostly a paid signature gathering effort funded over 86.5% by 3 individuals.

I suspect the truth is that he sent out 48,148 petitions and only received back 34,588 signatures. That means that out of the final 315,444 signature count, the rest were probably from paid signature gatherers.

34,588/315,444 = 10.96% of signatures turned in from mailing to “grassroots”
Could it be true that only 11% of Eyman’s signatures were from the “grassroots” supporters?

Maybe as many as 1700 petitions came back if all were full. This seems like a much more realistic return rate based on Initiative campaigns I’ve been involved with.

Money wise it also seems accurate. 315,444 signatures total – 34,588 from grassroots leaves 280,856 he paid for. He spent $598,081 to get his signatures, including mailing, which is about $1.89 per signature for the total amount. This is in the ballpark for cost per signature in campaigns these days.

While we’re at it we should actually note that Eyman did not collect 315,444 valid signatures. A small point but I am tired of Eyman’s misrepresentations of fact. He had a 12% invalid rate which means that only 277,591 signatures were declared as valid. A minor point but lets keep our figures straight for the record.

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Posted in Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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List Growing of Organizations Opposing Initiative 1033

Posted on July 24th, 2009 | Comments Off on List Growing of Organizations Opposing Initiative 1033

The list is growing of organizations opposing Eyman’s Initiative 1033 which will be on the November 2009 ballot. I-1033 is Eyman’s latest attempt to impose his Orwellian view of hogtying and limiting state, county and local government spending by ratcheting down revenues available every time there is a recession.

When times are good he will transfer funds mainly derived from sales taxes everyone pays, to reduce real estate taxes for the wealthy. The more property you own the more of a real estate tax break you will get. It’s sort of a reverse perverse Robin Hood scheme that benefits large corporate land owners like Boeing and Weyerhauser and shopping mall owners and real estate developers and owners of McMansions and second homes.

Here’s the latest list of organizations opposing I-1033. They would rather see our tax dollars go to provide services for everyone, not just wealthy property owners getting another tax break at the public’s expense.

AARP Washington
Amalgamated Transit Union 1015
American Federation of Teachers Washington, AFL-CIO
Alzheimer’s Association, Western and Central Washington Chapter
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition of King County
Central Washington Progress
Heart of America Northwest
King County Democrats
Lutheran Public Policy Office
Washington State Council of Fire Fighters
Fuse Washington
Futurewise
The Nature Conservancy of Washington
OneAmerica
Planned Parenthood Votes! Washington
Puget Sound Sage
Raising Our APA Representation
SEIU 775
Sahngnoksoo
Sierra Club, Cascade Chapter
Statewide Poverty Action Network
Surfrider Foundation
Transportation Choices Coalition
UFCW Local 21
Washington Association of Churches
Washington Bus
Washington Education Association
Washington Low Income Housing Alliance
Washington State Council of County and City Employees, AFSCME Council 2
Washington State Hospital Association
Washington State Labor Council

You can go to the No 1033 campaign website to add your organizations name to the list and learn more about the campaign.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Tim Eyman’s Initiative 1033 Grassroots Joke

Posted on July 20th, 2009 | 3 comments

We all love a good joke. Tim Eyman told one the other day on KING 5 News Up Front Blog. He was bragging about how much grassroots fundraising support Initiative 1033 had gotten.

Initiative 1033 is Eyman’s latest wealth transfer scheme. This one is to transfer state tax revenue, of which 57% comes from the state sales tax, to commercial and residential property owners in the form of reduced property taxes. The more property you own, the larger your tax break or loophole.

Anyway, twice on the Up Front blog comment thread Eyman couldn’t resist claiming I-1033 has “a very broad base of grassroots support.” He claims that he has “received 2063 individual donations totaling $664,769 so far. 2063 – that’s really extraordinary…”

What’s extraordinary is that how big a misrepresentation of the facts this is. The fact is that only 3 donors contributed some 86.5% of the money raised for I-1033.

Michael Dunmire of Woodinville gave $300,000. Tim Eyman borrowed $250,000 and loaned it to the campaign. And Kemper Holdings LLC of Bellevue owned by Kemper Freeman who owns Bellevue Square Mall gave $25,000.

These top 3 donors in the campaign contributed 86.5% of the total cash raised. This hardly sounds like a grassroots campaign to me. Especially since they spent $598,081 to get the signatures. That’s an average of $1.89/signature.

I was also curious how Eyman’s number of individual donations doesn’t match up with what the Public Disclosure Commission has.

The PDC reports Eyman raised $664,769 through June. This is the figure he used in his comment. Yet the PDC website lists only some 897 contributions. A closer look revealed that some contributors gave 2 or 3 or 4 times, so the numbers of contributions is actually more than the number of contributors.

The PDC in addition lists without names or amounts some $20,345.56 Eyman reported as small contributions so I’m sure that this is where his 2063 “contributions” come from.

The funny part is that under named contributors he lists one person as giving 5 cents four different times. (That’s 4 contributions!) Another gave 7 cents 2 different times (That’s 2 more contributions!) and a third contributor gave 2 cents.

Manipulating numbers is so much fun. The number of contributions is obviously not the same as contributors and can easily be manipulated. And recording someone giving a nickel to I-1033 four times makes it easy to inflate the number of contributions made.

Have one person give me $25.00 in pennies one at a time and I’ll have more grassroots support than Eyman. What a joke!

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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New Report Confirms Initiative 1033 Will Make Recovery Worse for Washington State

Posted on July 18th, 2009 | Comments Off on New Report Confirms Initiative 1033 Will Make Recovery Worse for Washington State

A just released report by the Rockefeller Institute of Government confirms analysis that Initiative 1033, if passed by voters in November, will likely make economic recovery in Washington State more difficult. While not directly addressing I-1033, the negative impact of the initiative is clear from the current economic figures.

Steeply declining revenue would reset the baseline from which next year’s inflation plus population growth would occur under I-1033. Analysis by the Washington State Budget and Policy Center notes that deceases in revenue during a recession will permanently lower the baseline and revenue to fund government services in future years.

The Rockefeller Report is entitled “State Tax Decline in Early 2009 was the Sharpest on Record“. Overall it notes that “State tax collections for the first quarter of 2009 showed a drop of 11.7%, the sharpest decline in the 46 years for which quarterly data are available. Combining the census Bureau’s quarterly data with its annual statistical series, which extends back to 1952, the most recent decline in state tax revenues was the worst on record.”

The figures given for Washington State in the report in Table 9 points to a 13.2% drop in sales tax and a 9% overall drop in quarterly state tax revenue comparing the January – March 2008 revenue to the January – March 2009 revenue.

The report also notes in looking ahead for all states that “The January – March quarter was the worst on record for states. The worst decline in sales tax in 50 years represents historic weakness in one of two major tax sources for states. Preliminary data for the April – June quarter suggest that fiscal conditions deteriorated even further …Such extraordinary weakness in revenues, along with continued if more moderate growth in expenditures, make widespread budget shortfalls highly likely this year.”

For Washington State a decreased revenue baseline under I-1033 will mean the emergency budget cuts this year become permanent budget cuts. There will be no new money to reduce classroom size or fund educational reform. Cuts to state health care are permanent. Cuts to all state services will not be restored. And future budget cuts due to the recession lowering the state’s revenue baseline will be necessary.

A state budget that only keeps pace with inflation and population growth under I-1033 is at best only able to keep pace with decreased purchasing power and increased population growth. An ever decreasing ability to fund government services under the recession resetting baseline that I-1033 mandates allows its sponsor Tim Eyman to follow in the footsteps of conservative Grover Norquist and his goal to continually reduce government spending and drown it in the bathtub.

The problem with this philosophy is that it doesn’t track reality. The free market economy does not solve many of society’s problems. Government is needed to help meet basic needs and provide balance and legal protections from those motivated by self interest and greed. History has shown us the shortcomings of societies that only serve the privileged few. It is the vision of being compassionate and providing legal protections and helping people that sets us apart from those like Eyman that make it their life’s mission to berate government serving people.

Taxes provide police and fire protection, free libraries, health care, roads and buses and sidewalks, education, environmental protection, parks and much more. Those that berate taxes like Eyman too often demagogue the issues while using these public services.

Eyman for example went to Washington State University and received a subsidy of his education because public tax dollars paid part of the cost. Maybe he should refund what the state paid for his education. Likewise he went to public school – maybe he should refund what others paid for his education there.

One could go on and on – the point is that government is not some evil leach sucking up tax dollars. It is providing benefits day in and day out that we all use and too frequently take for granted. Taxes are part of the cost we pay to live in our society. While no one really likes to pay taxes, we all benefit from the multitude of services government provides.

You can also find a write up of the Rockefeller Institute report in today’s New York Times.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Washington State Legislature

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Initiative 1033 – Eyman’s Latest Wealth Transfer Scheme for the Rich

Posted on July 2nd, 2009 | 1 comment

Old dog Eyman just ain’t learning any new tricks. Initiative 1033, which he filed today with the Washington State Secretary of State is just another old trick to transfer money from the poor to those better off, namely property owners.

Eyman latest scheme puts a limit on state, county and city revenue growth by limiting year to year growth to the previous year plus local population growth and a national inflation index. Because it’s indexed to the previous years growth, every time you have a bad year or two, revenues the government will be able to spend will decrease from its previous high

When you have bad times economically that’s usually when more people need help from government. But Eyman does not propose decreasing the sales tax, which is regressive. Last year 57% of state tax revenues came from the sales tax.

Eyman proposes that instead money over his national inflation and population increase will go to help reduce taxes on those that own property. For homeowners the US Census Bureau last year said that some 65% of Washington State households were owner occupied. That means that 35% of households in the state will see excess money collected from sales taxes, for example, go as a tax break to those able to afford homes.

This is very much a reverse Robin Hood economic model Tim Eyman style. Tax the poor and transfer the money to help the wealthy pay lower property taxes. We’ve already been classified as the most regressive state in the country on taxation. This will only make things worse.

If you truly want to help the people who need help on property taxes the most, low and middle income people trying to make a go of things, help them on the property taxes. Things like a Homestead Exemption on one’s principal residence or circuit breaker legislation would be the right way to go.

Initiative 1033 is not an answer to property taxes problems. If it qualifies for the ballot, voters would be wise to reject Eyman’ latest wealth transfer scheme for the rich.

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Posted in Economy, Elections, Initiatives, Tax Exemptions, Washington State Legislature

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