Comments on: City, state lawmakers share budget woes, chicken dinner http://www.issaquahpress.com/2009/10/20/city-state-lawmakers-share-budget-woes-chicken-dinner/ The Issaquah Press Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:33:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Steve Zemke MajorityRulesBlog http://www.issaquahpress.com/2009/10/20/city-state-lawmakers-share-budget-woes-chicken-dinner/comment-page-1/#comment-23731 Steve Zemke MajorityRulesBlog Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:43:23 +0000 http://www.issaquahpress.com/?p=14688#comment-23731 There are multiple problems with Initiative 1033 but here are three significant reasons to vote NO. INITIATIVE 1033 FREEZES STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING AT THE CURRENT LEVEL. It says that none of the cuts made in public services as a result of the current recession can be restored without a public vote. Public votes take time, cost money and allow politics and special interest money to influence the outcome. INITIATIVE 1033 IS A RADICAL SHIFT AWAY FROM REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. It would take away the current power of our elected public representatives to make budget decisions and turns the process over to budgeting by referendum. It does this not just at the state level but also for all 39 counties and all 281 cities in our state. It is a blatant attempt to undercut efficient and deliberative government because Tim Eyman’s goal is to shrink the powers of representative government. INITIATIVE 1033 IS A COMPLEX WEALTH TRANSFER SCHEME THAT SHIFTS THE TAX BURDEN ONTO LOWER INCOME TAXPAYERS. It would transfer sales tax dollars collected from everyone and use them to only pay property taxes for property owners. The problem is that not everyone owns property. This scheme increases the unfairness of our tax system. Renters will pay the same taxes as before under I-1033 but will both get no tax rebate and see no increased public services for their tax dollars. I-1033 is special interest legislation designed to hamstring government from operating efficiently. It is a complex wealth transfer scheme that benefits rich property owners. And it is not needed. There is no fiscal crisis of out of control government demanding radical change of this nature. In fact the reverse is true - that government can't even fund existing programs right now because of the economy. Initiative 1033 is a scheme dreamed up by anti-government, anti-tax fanatic Tim Eyman that is a clone of a similar failed measure in Colorado. Initiative 1033 deserves a resounding NO vote this November. We don’t need to make our current recession permanent or create more tax unfairness by having people with no property help pay property taxes for those with property. There are multiple problems with Initiative 1033 but here are three significant reasons to vote NO.

INITIATIVE 1033 FREEZES STATE AND LOCAL SPENDING AT THE CURRENT LEVEL. It says that none of the cuts made in public services as a result of the current recession can be restored without a public vote. Public votes take time, cost money and allow politics and special interest money to influence the outcome.

INITIATIVE 1033 IS A RADICAL SHIFT AWAY FROM REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT. It would take away the current power of our elected public representatives to make budget decisions and turns the process over to budgeting by referendum. It does this not just at the state level but also for all 39 counties and all 281 cities in our state. It is a blatant attempt to undercut efficient and deliberative government because Tim Eyman’s goal is to shrink the powers of representative government.

INITIATIVE 1033 IS A COMPLEX WEALTH TRANSFER SCHEME THAT SHIFTS THE TAX BURDEN ONTO LOWER INCOME TAXPAYERS. It would transfer sales tax dollars collected from everyone and use them to only pay property taxes for property owners. The problem is that not everyone owns property. This scheme increases the unfairness of our tax system. Renters will pay the same taxes as before under I-1033 but will both get no tax rebate and see no increased public services for their tax dollars.

I-1033 is special interest legislation designed to hamstring government from operating efficiently. It is a complex wealth transfer scheme that benefits rich property owners. And it is not needed.

There is no fiscal crisis of out of control government demanding radical change of this nature. In fact the reverse is true – that government can’t even fund existing programs right now because of the economy.

Initiative 1033 is a scheme dreamed up by anti-government, anti-tax fanatic Tim Eyman that is a clone of a similar failed measure in Colorado.
Initiative 1033 deserves a resounding NO vote this November.

We don’t need to make our current recession permanent or create more tax unfairness by having people with no property help pay property taxes for those with property.

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