Washington State Tax Fact #15: The Columbian Newspaper Opposes I-884

Citizens of the Evergreen State will vote on the billion dollar I-884 tax hike in less than a week. A majority of editorial boards oppose the initiative and are letting Washington citizens know the major problems with this enormous tax increase.

The Columbian, an important newspaper in Southwest Washington, ran on September 24th 2003 an editorial entitled “In Our View: ‘No’ on I-884.”

Some excerpts:

“As minor as a mere penny-on-a-dollar-of-purchases can sound, this is a dramatic 15.4 percent increase to the state sales tax.”

“Any bump in our sales tax let alone a 15.4 percent bump detrimentally affects businesses in border cities and towns.”

“We are told constantly by some of the proponents of I-884 that basic K-12 education in this state is woefully underfunded. And yet I-884 creates a laundry list of additional programs and payouts.”

“I-884…will make it even more difficult to provide the basic education that the state constitution requires.”

“[Rep. Fromhold, D-Vancouver, Vice-Chair State Higher Education Committee] is voting “no” on I-884 because it is the wrong solution

“It is not as if the state is ignoring schools. It already devotes more than 50 percent of the general fund to education.”

“It might be hard to vote ‘no’ on I-884, but that is the best vote for the success of our K-12 system and its nearly 1 million students.”

For more information, please visit http://www.freedomworks.org/washington