Washington Tax Fact #9: The Olympian Newspaper Opposes I-884

As some Washington state citizens begin voting this week, most newspaper editorial boards are making recommendations on I-884, and a majority are opposing the initiative, which would raise taxes by a billion dollars.

The most recent is The Olympian, a key state newspaper which editorialized “Our Views: Oppose I-884 tax increase” on Oct. 19th. An excerpt:

“This tax increase doesn’t sound like much — a penny on the dollar. But the penny increase would boost the sales tax in this community to almost 10 cents on the dollar. Couple that with repeated requests for more school levies and bonds, and pretty soon voters conclude they are being nickled-and-dimed into the poor house.

“Under this proposal, Washington state would have one of the highest sales taxes in the nation. It’s a regressive tax that is especially harmful to the poor. Multibillionaire Bill Gates will pay the same tax increase on a refrigerator or oven as will a single mother struggling to feed her family and stretch her paycheck to the next payday.

“Increasing the sales tax at a time when this state’s economy is just beginning to recover from the recession is unwise. According to the Washington Policy Center, the tax increase could rob this state of up to 10,000 jobs. This is at a time when the state Legislature bent over backward with considerable tax breaks to save far fewer Boeing jobs. This state can ill afford to lose ANY jobs.

“The best way to raise education funding in this state is to increase the job base and improve the economy. Raising taxes by $1 billion is counterproductive.”

Full editorial: http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20041019/opinion/17945.shtml

For more information on I-884 and other issues facing Washington State, please visit http://www.freedomworks.org/washington