End Eyman’s Push Poll “Advisory Votes” on our Ballots!

Posted on by July 20, 2024

“Advisory votes” are propaganda and can’t be used to “gauge public opinion”

MEDIA ADVISORY

DATE: Wedsnesday, November 3rd, 2021
TO: Washington State Reporters, Editors, and Producers
FROM: Andrew Villeneuve, Executive Director, Northwest Progressive Institute (media@nwprogressive.org)

In the last fifteen hours, our team at the Northwest Progressive Institute (NPI) has seen several stories published or aired that incorrectly describe statewide “advisory votes” as a means of allowing voters to express a viewpoint on recently-enacted tax increases.

For example, a KING5 story contained this line: “Advisory Vote 37 is meant to gauge public opinion” while The Seattle Times characterized “advisory votes” as allowing “voters to sound off on tax bills passed by the Legislature.”

These characterizations are incorrect. “Advisory votes” are in reality propaganda conceived by Tim Eyman to undermine public confidence in the work of the people’s elected representatives. They aren’t meant to gauge anything, and they can’t be used to measure public opinion. 

Because they are prejudicially worded, the responses are worthless. The “results” simply don’t tell us how voters truly feel about the state’s new capital gains tax on the wealthy or the other two bills the Legislature passed last session that happened to increase state revenue.

As any reputable pollster knows, asking a loaded question in public opinion research produces garbage data. 

Here are three essential facts about “advisory votes” that should be included in any reporting about them:

#1: The format and wording of “advisory votes” is prejudicial and was devised by Tim Eyman

Real ballot measures (like initiatives) are represented on the ballot with titles written by the Attorney General’s office. The title is intended to be a synopsis of what the measure is and does; it is the official representation of the measure on the ballot.

However, unlike real ballot measures, “advisory votes” are not written by the Attorney General’s office. They follow a formula created by Tim Eyman which is spelled out in RCW 29A.72.283. Eyman’s formula, as mentioned, is loaded with prejudicial language:

  • “The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people…” (It’s actually the Legislature’s job to make fiscal decisions on the people’s behalf.)
  • “… costing $_____ (amount over ten years) … ” (Ten year cost estimates are deceptive and misleading; budgeting isn’t done in ten year increments. Any number sounds more impressive when you take it out over ten years.)
  • “… for government spending.” (When the Legislature raises revenue, there’s always a reason or a purpose for its action; for example, the new state capital gains tax funds the Education Legacy Trust.) 

Then there are two responses: “Repealed” and “Maintained”. 

“Repealed” is shown first, because that’s the oval Eyman wants voters to fill in. “Maintained” (which is also weak, nonstandard verbiage) is shown second.

Ordinarily, “Yes” or “Approved” is shown first, and “No” or “Rejected” is shown second for a ballot measure. If you’ve covered politics for any length of time, then you’re familiar with this dichotomy. Since Eyman’s goal with “advisory votes” is to influence how people think instead of measuring public opinion, he flipped the standard dichotomy on its head, all to serve his agenda of using propaganda to generate even more propaganda for attacks on our elected representatives.

#2: Voters aren’t informed that regardless of which oval they fill in, nothing will change

Real ballot measures have binding outcomes. When an initiative passes, it results in a new law being created. When a referendum is rejected, it results in a law the Legislature previously passed being repealed. When a constitutional amendment or charter change passes, it means our plan of government is being altered. 

“Advisory votes,” on the other hand, aren’t binding. 90% of voters could fill in the “Repealed” oval and no tax would be repealed.

The coverage of “advisory votes” that we’ve seen has responsibly stated that “advisory votes” are not binding.

But it’s important to go a step further when writing about “advisory votes” and explain that voters are not told that their collective responses will not change fiscal policy. There is no disclaimer anywhere. The only clue is in the heading: “Advisory Vote.” 

Voters should not have to find out from news coverage that something they’re being asked to vote on isn’t going to have any impact, unlike with a real ballot measure. 

#3: There is an active effort underway to repeal “advisory votes” and replace them with information that’s actually useful in the voter’s pamphlet

Legislation is currently pending in the Washington State Legislature that would not only permanently abolish “advisory votes,” but replace them with useful information about the Legislature’s recent fiscal decisions in the voter’s pamphlet. Passage of this legislation (Senate Bill 5182, prime sponsored by Senator Patty Kuderer) would remove a barrier to voting and get Tim Eyman’s anti-tax propaganda off our ballots while making the Legislature’s work more transparent.

Polling commissioned by NPI shows Washingtonians favor this legislation.

We have asked three times whether voters want to get rid of “advisory votes.” Since, as explained above, we can’t know what people really think if we ask a loaded question, we wrote a question that presents some of Tim Eyman’s arguments in favor of “advisory votes” followed by some of our arguments against them. The wording for Eyman’s arguments was sourced right out of his email missives… it’s wording he actually uses himself.

Each time we’ve asked, in three different statewide polls, we have found that a plurality of voters support repeal, while a smaller number are opposed and a significant percentage aren’t sure.

Here’s the text of our question:

QUESTION: The Washington State Legislature is considering legislation that would abolish the non-binding statewide advisory votes that are triggered whenever a bill is passed that increases state revenue. Proponents of advisory votes say they allow voters to vote on tax increases and transform the voter’s pamphlet into a tax increase report card, enabling voters to find out what Olympia is doing to them. Opponents say that advisory votes are actually costly push polls designed to confuse the public, which ought to be eliminated to save valuable tax dollars and prevent legitimate measures and candidate elections from being pushed to the back of the ballot. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose abolishing non-binding advisory votes?

The last time we asked, in October of 2020, we found 42% in support of abolishing advisory votes, 22% in favor of keeping them, and 35% not sure. Net support for repeal increased to 20% from 17% in 2019. Our October 2020 survey had a sample of 610 likely 2020 voters, was conducted between October 14th and 15th for NPI by Public Policy Polling using calls to landlines and text messaging, and has a margin of error of +/- 4.0%.

We know this particular survey had a truly representative sample because every single electoral result from this survey foreshadowed the subsequent statewide results several weeks later. See our retrospective on that here. 

Additional information about “advisory votes”

About Permanent Defense
Permanent Defense is a project of the Northwest Progressive Institute that protects Washington by building a first line of defense against threats to the common wealth and Constitution of the Evergreen State.

About NPI
The Northwest Progressive Institute is a regionally focused nonprofit working from Washington, Oregon, & Idaho to constructively transform our world through insightful research and imaginative advocacy. NPI was founded in 2003 and is based in Redmond, Washington.

Northwest Progressive Institute
8201 164th Avenue NE, Suite 200, Redmond, WA 98052-7615 | media@nwprogressive.org | Twitter: @nwprogressive

State Poverty Action Network update on 2021 Washington State Budget

Posted on by July 20, 2024
Senate and House Released their State Budget Proposals!
Before the beginning of session, Governor Inslee proposed a bold and equitable state budget to ensure racial and economic justice beyond recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Late last week the Senate and House each released their proposals for the 2021-2023 state budget and we are THRILLED to see significant investments we have all been pushing for FOR YEARS!:
Both the Senate and House proposed fully funding the Working Families Tax Credit (WFTC), an annual direct cash rebate of $500-$950 for eligible low-income families.
The Senate proposed a 15% increase to the TANF grant, which would provide a family of three an additional $85 every month.
The House proposed a 10% increase plus an $80 monthly diaper benefit for families with children under three years old.
The Senate added $100,000 for a Dental Therapy Task Force to develop strategies for authorizing Dental Therapy statewide.
The Senate added $205 million for the Housing Trust Fund, which is our state’s primary fund for building affordable housing. The House proposed adding $148.9 million.
The Senate proposed adding $104.1 million for Housing and Essential Needs (HEN) to help adults with disabilities afford rent. The House proposed $130.6 million!
The Senate added $300 million for the WA Immigrant Relief Fund to provide a cash benefit to immigrants impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic who were ineligible for federal stimulus payments or unemployment benefits due to their immigration status. The House went further and proposed $340 million for the WA Immigrant Relief Fund.
Both the House and Senate proposed funding to increase the childcare subsidy and expand income eligibility for greater access to quality childcare.
The House included additional funding for temporary and one-time cash assistance to low-income families and those experiencing economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both chambers included funding for a study on Universal Basic Income to assess the economic impact and benefits of providing a baseline of financial support to Washingtonians.
Thank you for giving your time and sharing your stories so that lawmakers know who they represent and what the community truly needs!
What’s next?By April 25, the last day of this year’s legislative session, the House and Senate must agree on and pass a state budget to be signed by Governor Inslee in May to go into effect July 1.
?Send a message to your lawmakers thanking them for prioritizing the needs of low-income Washingtonians in our economic recovery from COVID-19 and urge them to protect these investments during budget negotiations!
For updates through the rest of session, follow our online bill tracker.
Connect With Us:Facebook TwitterContact Info:
Statewide Poverty Action Network
1501 N 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
United States
Connect With Us:
Facebook Twitter
Contact Info:Statewide Poverty Action Network
1501 N 45th Street
Seattle, WA 98103
United States

Above post is an e-mail from the Statewide Poverty Action Network sent out to supporters.

Let’s End Eyman’s Push Polls on our Ballots!

Posted on by July 20, 2024

The Washington State Senate needs to pass SB 5182 by Tuesday, March 9, 2021 or the bill dies for this year’s Legislative session. It has been sitting in Senate Rules now for over a month.

 Why are State Legislators continuing to allow Tim Eyman to have access to our ballots to do anti tax push polls done under the guise of so called “tax advisory votes”?

These advisory votes are really free advertising, paid for by Washington State taxpayers, to express opposition against the Washington State Legislature raising revenue or repealing outdated tax exemptions. The ballot language was written by Tim Eyman, not Attorney General Bob Ferguson who writes all other ballot title language.
 
Its time to end this abuse of using our ballot and taxpayer money to subsidize the profit interests of an anti-tax initiative business run by Tim Eyman. 

Please contact your Legislators today to urge they pass Senator Patty Kuderer’s SB 5182. This bill would remove  Eyman’s push polls from cluttering up our ballots. SB 5182  is stuck in Senate Rules. The deadline to pass bills of the House of origin is March 9th.

Urge State Senators  to pull SB 5182 from the Senate Rules Committee to the Senate floor for a vote! Click on the link below to urge they act now. Thanks.

Contact your Legislators via Action Network Now! 

Urge Washington Legislators to End Eyman Push Polls on our Ballots.

Posted on by July 20, 2024

Washington State Legislators – Pass SB 5182 now!

Washington State needs to end Washington taxpayers subsidizing Tim Eyman’s anti-tax initiative campaigns. They need to stop putting his so called Tax Advisory Votes  on our ballots. They are really anti-tax push polls.

Why are legislators allowing this abuse of our ballots to continue? It is time to end this abuse of our electoral process.

The language used to write the ballot titles for these so-called advisory votes was written by Tim Eyman, not the State’s Attorney General as all other ballot titles are.

Eyman’s ballot titles inflammatory language biases voter’s opinions. Requiring phrases like “legislature imposed”, “without a vote of the people”, “costing …in the first 10 years” and “for government spending” are phrases that are not neutral but are meant to bias against a “maintain” vote and all taxes and revenue increases in general.

Special interest polling does not deserve a place on our ballot. The fact that these push polls benefit a private initiative business and were written by that business to promote its anti-tax political agenda is even more objectionable.

End this abuse of our ballot. End this taxpayer subsidy of these Eyman push polls on our ballot.

Pass SB 5182 introduced by Senator Patty Kuderer!

Send Washington State legislatures an e-mail today supporting SB 5182.

Go to Action Network Now.

Feb. 23, 2021 update. SB 5182 has been voted out of the WA Senate State Government and Elections Committee and sent to Senate Rules. All bills must be voted out of the House of origin by 5 PM on March 9,2021 or they die. Please send an e-mail now to Legislators urging they move this bill.

Help end Tim Eyman’s use of our ballots to promote his business!

Posted on by July 20, 2024

Tax Sanity.org


 Why is Washington State  allowing Tim Eyman to have access to our ballots to do anti tax push polls done under the guise of so called “tax advisory votes”? 

These advisory votes are really free advertising, paid for by Washington State taxpayers, to express opposition against the Washington State Legislature raising revenue or repealing outdated tax exemptions. The ballot language was written by Tim Eyman, not Attorney General Bob Ferguson who writes all other ballot title language.
 
Its time to end this abuse of using our ballot and taxpayer money to subsidize the profit interests of an anti-tax initiative business run by Tim Eyman. 

Please contact your Legislators today to help pass Senator Patty Kuderer’s SB 5224. It’s stuck in House Rules. The deadline to pass bills is April 17th. Urge your Representatives to pull SB 5224 from the Rules Committee to the House floor for a vote! Click on the link below to send them an email now Thanks.

Contact your Legislators
Action Network

or you can click on this Legislative link:
comment on SB 5224

Urge WA House Finance Committee Members vote HB 1703 – Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Act Out of Committee to Rules

Posted on by July 20, 2024

“When we adopt our biennial budgets, we should proactively consider the exemptions and preferences as tax expenditures and require re-adoption if they have never been reviewed or have no sunset date. Why should these “tax expenditures” live on forever? No other expenditure lives on without re-adoption in the budget?” Representative Gerry Pollet – prime sponsor of HB 1703

Your help is needed to get HB 1703 passed by the Washington State legislature. Here is how you can help:

  • Email and/or call Democratic House Finance Committee members listed below urging they vote HB 1703 out of the Washington State House Finance Committee to House Rules. The House Finance Committee Chair is Gael Tarleton. Noel Frame is the lead on this bill in the Finance Committee.
  • Also urge your own Legislators to support HB 1703. Click on this link to HB 1703 and click on “comment on this bill” to urge your legislators to pass this bill.
Representative Phone Email
Noel Frame (360) 786-7814 Noel.Frame@leg.wa.gov
Nicole Macri (360) 786-7826 Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov
Tina Orwall (360) 786-7834 Tina.Orwall@leg.wa.gov
Gael Tarleton (360) 786-7860 Gael.Tarleton@leg.wa.gov
Amy Walen (360) 786-7848 Amy.Walen@leg.wa.gov
Sharon Wylie (360) 786-7924 Sharon.Wylie@leg.wa.gov
Mike Chapman (360) 786-7916 Mike.Chapman@leg.wa.gov
Larry Springer (360) 786-7822 Larry.Springer@leg.wa.gov
Jeff Morris (360) 786-7970 Jeff.Morris@leg.wa.gov

Its time to end tax exemptions as off budget spending

  • Our state gives away more revenue as tax exemptions than it collects from the same tax base.
  • 89% of Washington State’s tax exemptions have no sunset provision.
  • Of the 694 tax exemptions listed by the Dept. of Revenue in 2016 some 450 are discretionary.
  • These discretionary tax exemptions were projected by the Dept. of Revenue in 2017 to 2019 to total $54 billion with about $30 billion as “potential revenue gains”

What HB 1703 does:

  • The Department of Revenue Report on all tax exemptions and their fiscal impact would be updated every 2 years instead of 4 years.
  • Any tax exemption that has NO sunset and reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium would appear in the budget documents and have to be proactively reauthorized as part of the budget or it would sunset.
  • If the Legislature has taken no action on reviewing and clarifying or adding a sunset on a tax exemption which the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and Citizens Commission on Tax Preferences have recommended to be ended or clarified, and the tax exemption reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium, then the exemption would appear in the budget documents and require re-adoption in the budget or it would sunset.

Who are the 38 sponsors of HB 1703?

Pollet, Paul, Tarleton, Valdez, Gregerson, Orwall, Stanford, Ryu, Santos,  Doglio, Pettigrew, Thai, Kloba, Wylie, Goodman, Bergquist, Senn, Peterson, 
Fitzgibbon, Riccelli, Lekanoff, Tharinger, Jinkins, Frame, Mead, Ramos, Appleton, Fey, Dolan, Walen, Macri, Callan, Kirby, Ortiz-Self, Pellicciotti, Cody, Ormsby, Hudgins

Contact stevezemke@taxsanity.org for more details

www.taxsanity.org

Tax Sanity – facebook

Washington State Senate passes SB 5442 to end Eyman’s push poll advisory votes

Posted on by July 20, 2024

Eliminating Eyman’s push poll tax advisory votes from the ballot

Testimony in support of SB 5224 – concerning advisory votes

Washington State House Committee on State Government & Tribal Relations

Steve Zemke – Tax Sanity           March 11, 2019

The Washington State Ballot for the last ten years has been cluttered with nonbinding push poll questions on tax measures passed by the Legislature.

These so called “tax advisory” questions” were put there as part of Tim Eyman’s Initiative 960 as an attempt to increase public resentment to any “tax” measures despite their benefit to  the larger public. The ballot title for each is basically written as an anti-tax push poll based on Eyman’s ballot title language in Initiative 960 that stipulated the polling question wording.

They carry no Legislative weight as they only record voters’ opinions. They are like a public opinion poll paid for by taxpayers. But Eyman tries to use them to build public opposition to funding public services by wording them such that voters will be inclined to respond negatively to any tax increase. Under Eyman’s definition of tax increases he also includes any efforts by the Legislature to repeal any tax exemptions or tax expenditures even if they are no longer needed or are no longer meeting the state priorities of government.

Deciphering Eyman’s ballot title language is very tricky and confusing to voters. They seem purposely written to try to get voters to vote to repeal any tax increase passed by the Legislature.   And unlike initiatives, the writeup on these so-called tax advisory votes in the voter’s pamphlet contain no explanatory statement, no pro and con statements, and no fiscal impact statement.

In fact, the State Attorney General has no real ability to even try to fairly explain the issue in the ballot title since Eyman’s initiative 960 required that the ballot title be worded as he wrote it:

The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people, (identification of tax and description of increase), costing (most up-to-date ten-year cost projection, expressed in dollars and rounded to the nearest million) in its first ten years, for government spending. This tax increase should be:
Repealed . . .[ ]
Maintained . . .[ ]

Please end this waste of taxpayer dollars to promote Tim Eyman’s anti-tax propaganda and misuse of the public ballot to further his self-serving anti-tax initiative promotion business. Vote to move SB 5224 out of committee to Rules and to the House floor for passage by the full House. Push polls to promote a private business deserve no place on Washington State’s ballot.

Tax Sanity note 3/13/2019 – Patty Kudder’s SB 5224 has had a hearing in the House and needs to be voted out of committee to Rules. Please click on this link to the legislative website for SB 5224 and urge your House Representatives to pass this bill by clicking on the “comment on this bill” button. Thanks.

HB 1703 – Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Act – Tax Sanity Testimony before House Finance Committee

Posted on by July 27, 2024

Testimony in support of HB 1703 – the Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Act (2019)

Washington State House Finance Committee, Feb 26, 2019 Testimony by Steve Zemke – Director – Tax Sanity

 Thank you for this opportunity to testify on this legislation.

This is the sixth year this bill has been before you and each year it picks up additional support. This year HB 1703 has the support of 38 House members.

Legislation to create a Tax Expenditure Budget has been increasingly supported by numerous groups in our state over the last few years, including the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, the Washington State Democratic Party, the Washington Education Association, SEIU 775, Northwest Progressive Institute, Washington Federation of State Employees, Faith Action Network, Washington State Labor Council , Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action, League of Women Voters and others

Why are these groups supporting this legislation? Because they believe that a system of tax expenditures that gives away more in revenue from the tax base than it collects is a broken system.  They believe that tax exemptions need transparency and accountability and fairness. That does not exist now.

Tax Exemptions, preferences, deductions, credits, and deferrals are off budget expenditures. They lack the transparency and accountability that exists for other expenditures the state makes as part of the biennial budget process. According to the Department of Revenue’s latest Report – the 2016 Tax Exemption Report for the 2015 to 2017 biennium, they projected that while the state would collect some $7.4 billion in B&O taxes, they would exempt from the same tax base some $11.4 billion. This gap has widened since the last biennium.

Including the rest of the tax exemptions in their report, the Department of Revenue projected that off budget tax expenditures would total almost $40 billion while only collecting revenue totaling some $32.6 billion.

Of the 694 tax exemptions in that report about 450 are discretionary.  The Department of Revenue projected that in the 2017 to 2019 Biennium that of the $54 billion in projected tax expenditures, some $30 billion would fall into “potential revenue gains”. 

 This legislation does not mandate wholesale repeal of tax expenditures.  It asks for accountability and transparency and biennial review and gives the legislature the ability to act to end exemptions if they do not meet the priorities of government the same as expenditures in the regular biennial operating appropriations budget must.

Concern about the current system includes a quickly dated Tax Exemption report by the Department of Revenue that is only updated once every 4 years.  Most other states in the country update their report every 2 years or less. California updates their Tax Expenditure report every year.

Companies like Microsoft, Starbucks, Expedia, Adobe and Boeing all must report to their stockholders every year and issue quarterly profit and loss statements.  Their financial statements are scrutinized by their stockholders. It does not make sense that Washington State only updates its Tax Exemption Report every 4 years. It will next be updated in 2020. It should at a minimum be updated every two years just as the state biennial budget is.

Only 73 of the 694 listed exemptions in the 2016 Washington Tax Exemption Report have sunset provisions. This means 89% of the tax expenditures have no sunset provision and never require the Washington State Legislature to ever vote on them again. Meanwhile all expenditures in the regular operating appropriations budget are scrutinized and voted on every 2 years with adjustment made in the 2nd year of the biennium.

Also in the 2016 Washington Tax Exemption Report, 54 exemptions are listed as “unable to disclose” the amount of revenue involved.  Businesses and other entities are benefiting from state tax law in getting exemptions and lower or no taxes. The public has a right to know the value of these exemptions and who is receiving them,

The public has a right to know that these exemptions are creating jobs or providing valuable services to Washington State citizens just as they expect expenditures in the regular budget appropriations bill to produce.

 We require that accountability in the regular budget appropriations process – we don’t say we’re spending state revenue, but the public doesn’t have the right to know because the recipient doesn’t want us to know what they are getting.

With the current lack of accountability and transparency and sound fiscal review and evaluation as to whether current tax expenditures meet the state priorities of government and have clear measurable objectives as to their effectiveness in meeting state needs, taxpayers and citizens in this state increasingly believe state government and the legislature are not doing their job.

 Please step up and vote to fix this broken tax expenditure system that severely lacks needed transparency, accountability and sound fiscal management of our total state budget.

Steve Zemke Director Tax Sanity SteveZemke@TaxSanity.org www.taxsanity.org

steve@taxsanity.org

HB 1703 – Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Act Hearing in House Finance Committee Feb. 26, 2019

Posted on by February 24, 2019
Reply

HB 1703 Hearing  in House Finance Committee

Tuesday 2/26/19 at 8 AM in John L O’Brien Building

Executive session to vote bill out of committee Wed. 2/27/2019

Your help is needed to get HB 1703 passed by the Washington State legislature. Here is how you can help:

  • Go to HB 1703 and click on “comment on this bill” to urge your legislators to pass this bill.
  • Share this post on facebook, twitter and other social media.
  • Email and/or call Democratic House Finance Committee members listed below urging they vote HB 1703 out of committee.
RepresentativePhoneEmail
Noel Frame(360) 786-7814Noel.Frame@leg.wa.gov
Nicole Macri(360) 786-7826 Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov
Tina Orwall(360) 786-7834 Tina.Orwall@leg.wa.gov
Gael Tarleton(360) 786-7860 Gael.Tarleton@leg.wa.gov
Amy Walen(360) 786-7848 Amy.Walen@leg.wa.gov
Sharon Wylie(360) 786-7924 Sharon.Wylie@leg.wa.gov
Mike Chapman(360) 786-7916 Mike.Chapman@leg.wa.gov
Larry Springer(360) 786-7822 Larry.Springer@leg.wa.gov
Jeff Morris(360) 786-7970 Jeff.Morris@leg.wa.gov

Its time to end tax exemptions as off budget spending

Our state gives away more revenue as tax exemptions than it collects from the same tax base.

89% of Washington State’s tax exemptions have no sunset provision.

Of the 694 tax exemptions listed by the Dept. of Revenue in 2016 some 450 are discretionary.

These discretionary tax exemptions were projected by the Dept. of Revenue in 2017 to 2019 to total $54 billion with about $30 billion as “potential revenue gains”

When we adopt our biennial budgets, we should proactively consider the exemptions and preferences as tax expenditures and require re-adoption if they have never been reviewed or have no sunset date. Why should these “tax expenditures” live on forever? No other expenditure lives on without re-adoption in the budget?

What HB 1703 does:

  • The Department of Revenue Report on all tax exemptions and their fiscal impact would be updated every 2 years instead of 4 years.
  • Any tax exemption that has NO sunset and reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium would appear in the budget documents and have to be proactively reauthorized as part of the budget or it would sunset.
  • If the Legislature has taken no action on reviewing and clarifying or adding a sunset on a tax exemption which the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and Citizens Commission on Tax Preferences have recommended to be ended or clarified, and the tax exemption reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium, then the exemption would appear in the budget documents and require re-adoption in the budget or it would sunset.

Sponsors: Pollet, Paul, Tarleton, Valdez, Gregerson, Orwall, Stanford, Ryu, Santos, Doglio, Pettigrew, Thai, Kloba, Wylie, Goodman, Bergquist, Senn, Peterson, Fitzgibbon, Riccelli, Lekanoff, Tharinger, Jinkins, Frame, Mead, Ramos, Appleton, Fey, Dolan, Walen, Macri, Callan, Kirby, Ortiz-Self, Pellicciotti, Cody, Ormsby, Hudgins

  • Contact stevezemke@taxsanity.org for more details.

HB 1703 – Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Bill Introduced in 2019 WA Legislative Session

Posted on by February 24, 2019
Reply


HB 1703 – 2019 Tax Exemption Transparency and Accountability Act

Update: Hearing on HB 1703 in House Finance Committee

Tuesday 2/26/19 at 8 AM in John L O’Brien Building

It’s Time to End Tax Exemptions as Off Budget Spending!

Our state gives away more revenue as tax exemptions than it collects from the same tax base.

89% of Washington State’s tax exemptions have no sunset provision.

Of the 694 tax exemptions listed by the Dept. of Revenue in 2016 some 450 are discretionary.

These discretionary tax exemptions were projected by the Dept. of Revenue in 2017 to 2019 to total $54 billion with about $30 billion as “potential revenue gains”

When we adopt our biennial budgets, we should proactively consider the exemptions and preferences as tax expenditures and require re-adoption if they have never been reviewed or have no sunset date. Why should these “tax expenditures” live on forever? No other expenditure lives on without re-adoption in the budget?

What HB 1703 does:

  • The Department of Revenue Report on all tax exemptions and their fiscal impact would be updated every 2 years instead of 4 years.
  • Any tax exemption that has NO sunset and reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium would appear in the budget documents and have to be proactively reauthorized as part of the budget or it would sunset.
  • If the Legislature has taken no action on reviewing and clarifying or adding a sunset on a tax exemption which the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee and Citizens Commission on Tax Preferences have recommended to be ended or clarified, and the tax exemption reduces revenues by over $50,000/year or $100,000/biennium, then the exemption would appear in the budget documents and require re-adoption in the budget or it would sunset.

Sponsors: Pollet, Paul, Tarleton, Valdez, Gregerson, Orwall, Stanford, Ryu, Santos, Doglio, Pettigrew, Thai, Kloba, Wylie, Goodman, Bergquist, Senn, Peterson, Fitzgibbon, Riccelli, Lekanoff, Tharinger, Jinkins, Frame, Mead, Ramos, Appleton, Fey, Dolan, Walen, Macri, Callan, Kirby, Ortiz-Self, Pellicciotti, Cody, Ormsby, Hudgins

You can help!

  • Go to HB 1703 and clicking on “comment on this bill” to urge your legislators to pass this bill. Urge the House Finance Committee to move this bill out of committee.
  • Email and/or call Democratic House Finance Committee members urging their support.
  • Contact stevezemke@taxsanity.org for more details.
RepresentativePhoneEmail
Noel Frame(360) 786-7814Noel.Frame@leg.wa.gov
Nicole Macri(360) 786-7826 Nicole.Macri@leg.wa.gov
Tina Orwall(360) 786-7834 Tina.Orwall@leg.wa.gov
Gael Tarleton(360) 786-7860 Gael.Tarleton@leg.wa.gov
Amy Walen(360) 786-7848 Amy.Walen@leg.wa.gov
Sharon Wylie(360) 786-7924 Sharon.Wylie@leg.wa.gov
Mike Chapman(360) 786-7916 Mike.Chapman@leg.wa.gov
Larry Springer(360) 786-7822 Larry.Springer@leg.wa.gov
Jeff Morris(360) 786-7970 Jeff.Morris@leg.wa.gov