This upcoming Nov. 5, 2013 General Election Ballot in Washington State has 5 Tax Advisory Vote measures put on the ballot as a result of Tim Eyman’s Initiative 960. Voters should vote to “maintain”+ these measures.
The 5 Advisory votes are just that – advisory and will change nothing in law. These advisory votes were put there by Eyman’s Initiative 960 as his 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 initiative language that stipulated the ballot title wording. They carry no legislative weight as they only record the voters opinion. But he uses the votes to show public opposition to funding public services.
Initiative 960 required the ballot language this way. “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Repealed .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 …[ ]
As you can see the language is written such that it is a classic push poll question with key words and phrases to induce voters to oppose a measure without even understanding what it is about.The highlighted language above is the required wording by Eyman .I’ve highlighted the required language written by Eyman to make clear how little is left to the Attorney General to write.
You can read more about the outcome of the advisory vote in 2012, when voters voted against two measures clearly passed to benefit middle class tax payers. See Tim Eyman’s Libertarian Vision for Washington State on MajorityRulesBlog.
Unfortunately for Taxpayers this push poll is paid for by the taxpayers. See heraldnet.com article Voters will give advisory vote on 5 tax measures. The herald net article only discusses the printing cost of voters pamphlets and not the election costs for ballot printing and counting the votes, which is not insignificant.
Both Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly voted in the Legislature to approve all 5 of these measures, including to repeal some tax exemptions and fix the inheritance tax exclusion set up by a court decision, to secure revenue to help fund the budget. If you are a Washington voter you should affirm these votes and vote to “maintain” all 5 of these measures.
Advisory Vote No. 3 (Substitute Senate Bill 5444)
The legislature eliminated, without a vote of the people, a leasehold excise tax credit for taxpayers who lease publicly-owned property, costing approximately $2,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
[ ] Repealed
[x] Maintained
Advisory Vote No. 4 (Senate Bill 5627)
The legislature imposed, without a vote of the people, an aircraft excise tax on commuter air carriers in lieu of property tax, costing approximately $500,000 in its first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [x]
Advisory Vote No. 5 (Engrossed Substitute House Bill 1846)
The legislature extended, without a vote of the people, the insurance premium tax to some insurance for pediatric oral services, costing an amount that cannot currently be estimated, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [x]
Advisory Vote No. 6 (Second Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1971)
The legislature eliminated, without a vote of the people, a retail sales tax exemption for certain telephone and telecommunications services, costing approximately $397,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [x]
Advisory Vote No. 7 (Engrossed House Bill 2075)
The legislature extended, without a vote of the people, estate tax on certain property transfers and increased rates for estates over $4,000,000, costing approximately $478,000,000 in the first ten years, for government spending.
This tax increase should be:
Repealed [ ]
Maintained [x]
See here on the Washington Secretary of State’s website for more details on all 7 statewide measures on the November 5, 2013 General Election Ballot.
Secretary of State’s Listing of Statewide Measures on the Nov. Ballot
See also Progressive Voters Guide
Public Policy Votes on November Ballot Are Tailored to Deceive – Washington State Budget and Policy Center
Looking at my voters pamphlet on the advisory vote. Does ‘yea’ mean the legislator voted to repeal or voted to maintain the Bill like 1971 or 2075.
Yea means they voted to pass the bill.
That doesn’t answer the question. “The tax increase should be: “ It’s a multiple choice question. Not a yes or no. So to repeat Michelle’s question Does ‘yea’ mean the legislator voted to repeal or maintain?
Thank you for clearing that up. jeff
Pingback: Vote "Maintain" on Eyman Advisory Votes this November. - TaxSanity.org
These votes are a joke. It is extremely hard from the wording to tell what costing means. Whether the legislature eliminated or imposed whatever, it is written such that it sounds like it would cost the taxpayers money to do it. The whole thing is very confusing for the voter. The piece of horse manure that even allows these Advisory Votes to be voted on should just be repealed.