I-1098 Defeated In Washington: Tax Initiative Would Have Raised Bills For Wealthiest 1 Percent

OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington voters have rejected a state income tax on its top 1 percent of earners that supporters said would have raised billions for key education and health programs.

Initiative 1098 was defeated Tuesday by about 65 percent to 35 percent in unofficial returns. About 57 percent of the expected votes had been counted.

The $6.3 million campaign against the initiative was bankrolled by some of the most prominent names in Washington business, including Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer and Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos.

Washington is one of seven states without a personal income tax. Labor unions and other supporters said the state's tax system unfairly focuses on sales taxes, which consume a larger percentage of lower-income people's wealth.

Comments

[curmudgeon3]

12:37 AM on 11/09/2010

Several acquaintances in Washington State had absolutely no idea that the measure would have reduced their property taxes (state share reduced by 20%). But they were able to recite the opposition's scare tactics verbatim, since those aired 24/7 for weeks. Political signs opposing I-1098 were everywhere, while those supporting it were non-existent.

The Dems had significant majorities in both houses in Washington State, along with a Democratic governor. They could have passed an income tax for all during the just-concluded session. So, why didn't they?

Anyone who believes that the legislature would pass an extension of the income tax to everyone must be smoking some powerful stuff. The legislature passed the most innocuous tax imaginable: extending the sales tax to most candy, bottled water and soda. And that tax just got deep-sixed.

Yet, newspaper editors in the state warned voters that there was no guarantee that enough signatures could be obtained to overturn an income for all on the ballot. Such an argument would make sense only to someone with a single digit IQ. Extending an income tax to everyone would permanently destroy the political career of every politician who voted for it.

I-1098 would have also reduced commercial property taxes and exempted 81% of businesses from the hated state B&O tax.

http://washingtonpolicywatch.org/2010/07/29/initiative-1098-if-you-were-wealthy-how-would-washingtons-income-tax-compare-to-other-states/

http://www.seattlepi.com/opinion/426062_I-1098.html

[JustBNice]

03:02 PM on 11/07/2010

The middle class duped again into voting against their own best interest by clever TV ads, etc.

Why don't the Dems in control learn anything from this ??

[Swift2]

02:07 PM on 11/07/2010

Class warfare is already happening. The GOP/Tea Party-endorsed war of the rich against the poor.

[PoliticalRockChick]

10:48 PM on 11/06/2010

So sad. So 65% of Washintonians are brainwashed by the uber wealthy. Keep believing the wealthy are for you. Keep believing.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

10:41 AM on 11/04/2010

Even in blue Washington, there is some hope. Class warfare is bad for the economy and flies in the face of promoting individual liberty and productivity.

[PoliticalRockChick]

10:50 PM on 11/06/2010

Class warfare will happen in this country one day. It happened to all super powers and America will have it's comeuppance. Sad but true.

[progressivewithaP]

12:22 PM on 11/07/2010

Please... Class warfare arises when the poor and downtrodden arise. Not when the 1% of the uberwelathy have to pay 1% more in taxes.

[progressivewithaP]

12:21 PM on 11/07/2010

Lmao. Taxes on the uber wealthy is cLass warfare but trying to deny people unemployment benefits is not?

[angelcity67]

11:30 PM on 11/03/2010

Part X, Section 1004 of Initiative 1098: "The excise tax rates in section 501 of this act may not be increased for any income level without a majority vote of the legislature and submission of the changes to the people for approval."

I honestly don't understand how the initiative could have been any clearer that this tax cannot spread to the middle class without voter approval (besides maybe adding some exclamation points). Am I reading something incorrectly here?

[PoliticalRockChick]

10:50 PM on 11/06/2010

They have been brainwashed.

[rabprevent]

07:50 PM on 11/03/2010

You wonder why these states are going broke

[Artemis34]

10:22 AM on 11/04/2010

Washington state is one of the Blue states that pays more in federal tax than it receives back in benefits.

So, one of the reasons is carrying red states on our backs!

[rabprevent]

10:34 AM on 11/04/2010

@ Artemis34,
Hey, I hear you! As someone who supports the dems on many issues, I recognize that these Red States are nothing more than dumnping grounds for the republicans to get votes. As it stand right now, the top five states with the highest level of poverty are all red, these folks are being kept ignorant on purpose so they can vote for republicans and they seem to believe that they are just like them when in reality, most of them are millionaires who only cares about themselves. If they would let every state fend for themselves and require that they can only as much as they put in, maybe then these red states would wake up and realize that these retugs do not give a hoot about their well being. With that said, thank you for the titbit!

[Swift2]

02:09 PM on 11/07/2010

And if you sponsor any bill, or any initiative, to get the rich to actually make a useful contribution to society as a whole, they bolt and run to a Red State, or threaten too. If the people in Red States start making demands, then they're gone to China. Good luck, suckers!

[joeyc]

05:28 PM on 11/03/2010

Funny how everyone wants to tell Washingtonians how to run their state. And all the smarmy "we-know-so-much-better-than-you" comments about how ignorant Washington state residents are is especially telling.

Never mind that Washington is far more prosperous and with a better standard of living than most other states. Let all the other states emulate California as their role model and see what becomes of them. Washington state can take care of itself, thank you.

[Artemis34]

08:08 PM on 11/03/2010

Actually, not allowing the government to appropriately tax is the problem in California.

There is no such thing as a free lunch.

Some Washingtonians have sent Republicans to congress who wrecked the national economy which means both federal and state revenues are down just as people are more in need. So, time to pay the piper.

But I understand you want to sacrifice children on the altar of budget.

[Artemis34]

08:08 PM on 11/03/2010

Oh, and I'm from Washington.

[Gemstoned]

04:06 PM on 11/03/2010

As a Washingtonian, I voted against the initiative. I am nowhere near the top 1%.

But I - along with an obvious majority of us believe that this was an attempt to backdoor the people into voting in a tax which would eventually get ALL residents, not just the top 1%. We are tired of the crooks (or servants as they call themselves) that spend enough of our tax dollars already... That is why it didn't pass, NOT due to inequalities with a Flat sales tax...

[Javalation]

04:56 PM on 11/03/2010

Then you deserve to have your sales tax raised or go without some services.

[Velocitor]

08:31 PM on 11/03/2010

"you" not "we"... if you aren't from Washington, what do you care?

[StopThePlanet]

07:40 PM on 11/03/2010

ha ha ha. Pay more sales tax then. Don't ask the people who benefit most from the infrastructure to fund it.

[Gemstoned]

07:53 PM on 11/03/2010

If the sales tax was being eliminated - there would have been more support for this... but of course that was not going to happen...

[Salukeitis]

02:25 PM on 11/03/2010

To the Righties that now have some courage to post on HP. A Question-----Explain to us how the SCOTUS decision to give corporations carte blanche to spend zillions on a candidate they are supporting is fair and equitable. I'll just watch you fall all over your words.

[QuantProgrammer]

02:41 PM on 11/03/2010

It's a regulation, so given that the natural rights this country were founded on state that government only exists as a matter of pragmatism, it's incumbent on you to explain why we need it.

Please explain why we should toss out the first amendment for the sake of regulating political speech.

[RebelSoul]

05:19 PM on 11/03/2010

So by that rationale, you having more money then me means you have more free speech then me. You have the power to buy advertising spots, the power to throw a huge rally and drown out thousands, even millions of your countrymen. Is that what the founding father's intended? For the rich to dominate the poor? That is not democracy by definition, it is oligarchy.

A tax on the wealthy is not an infringement on your constitutional rights. You are well represented in Congress, in fact, your interests are being met in Congress far better then the average person's. You owe it to the people to give back to the system that made your success possible and besides, giving you more money will likely sit in a bank account and deactivate that capital out of the system. No matter how much you invest it will never equal its reactivity when it's kept in the economy, and government does not hoard capital, it spends it, instantly on infrastructure, jobs, so-called entitlements, military and debt. That money instantly reenters the economy where another entrepreneur has a chance at it.

Small business = more democratic. Large corporate interests = threat to democracy as corporate power > government power - military.

I wish we would return to the tax rate under Republican Eisenhower (91%). A progressive tax-code is just better for both democracy and capitalism. At the very least, the rich should pay their fair share as they use the system the most.

[StopThePlanet]

07:44 PM on 11/03/2010

The first amendment is for people first and foremost. Corporations are not people, they are creations of the state.

Secondly, it is just foolish to allow money to corrupt a process that is already unduly corrupt. We need the regulation to keep foreign interests and corporate interests from drowning out the voices of the masses with their more subtantial means to fund their message. Might doesn't make right.

[joeyc]

05:35 PM on 11/03/2010

Just like a lib to throw out a red herring to make themselves look good. There are many on the left and right that oppose that decision.

[StopThePlanet]

07:44 PM on 11/03/2010

Not many on the right.

[techjockey]

01:16 PM on 11/03/2010

There was a very well funded opposition to this bill that incorretly told voters that if they vote this in, the state legislature can add income tax to all levels of income.
People did not want to risk it, or more succinctly did not have the intellectual curiosity to read the bill & find out what was actually in it. They will be the losers for it.
It reminds me of the anti car tab bill that passed here about 12 years ago. The bill took almost all the car tab (road repair) taxes away & the people that benefited from it were all those buying 30k+ luxury autos. All the trailer trash that had several parted out heaps in their yard actually ended up paying MORE in registration taxes than before.

[Gemstoned]

04:17 PM on 11/03/2010

The registration tabs on my truck went from over $700/yr to around $50 because of this.... I am glad I voted to lower it... And surprise - government is still operating ?

All I know is that I like the current system - the flat sales tax for all. If it would have passed, the proposed segregated tax would eventually be expanded to all wage earners regardless of how it was written today. Just shows that the majority of people here are looking farther ahead than next year.

[Artemis34]

11:10 AM on 11/04/2010

Just shows the majority is voting based on fear not facts.

And I wouldn't be lauding California as a model for how a state should be run.

[Velocitor]

08:41 PM on 11/03/2010

I had the intellectual curiousity to read the bill. I just didn't have the gullibility to believe the assurances that it "couldn't" be expanded without voter approval. There's no such thing as an ironclad assurance in the law... even the Constitution can be ammended.

[Artemis34]

11:11 AM on 11/04/2010

So you voted based on fear not facts.

Your property taxes would have gone done now, but....

[CyberPunk]

01:03 PM on 11/03/2010

Sowhoreadsthefineprint!;-)

[Davest]

03:30 PM on 11/03/2010

I do, I voted for the Millionaires tax as well. But, as you can see from today's results. People aren't too bright, and continue to vote against their best interests.

I guess the Billionaires can keep hiding their money, while those of us that still have a job can continue to be bloodlet.

[Artemis34]

12:13 PM on 11/03/2010

Republicans have a very seductive message - you can get something without paying for it.

It is useful for them, but it is NOT true. And the hierarchy, the fans of Milton - there is no such thing as a free lunch - Friedman, know it is not true. That is why they have to kiss COMMUNIST Chinas butt, so they can borrow and spend recklessly.

Far less seductive is the Democratic message that with rights come responsibilities, with benefits come costs. If the wealthy want an educated work force, there is a price for that. If the wealthy want to use the courts to enforce contracts and collect debts, there is a price for that.

[HC4BO]

12:11 PM on 11/03/2010

... the state's tax system unfairly focuses on sales taxes, which consume a larger percentage of lower-income people's wealth. ...

---------------------

Talk about getting what you deserve ...

IF people want to circumvent this, STOP buying stuff ...

Better yet buy stuff over the internet from locations where you do NOT have to pay taxes ...

[Artemis34]

12:17 PM on 11/03/2010

The poor often spend every penny they have on necessities. And they have fewer options on purchasing (more likely not to have a car or internet access).

In a nutshell, they are GREAT consumers. People who must buy and often must buy from you.

They, along with the middle class, both make the wealth of the rich possible and give that wealth meaning and context.

[diana68]

12:25 PM on 11/03/2010

Nice to see that atleast someone understands.

[IHR]

11:35 AM on 11/03/2010

LET THE OUTSOUCING BEGIN YOU GUYS NEED MORE SUN LIGHT