Commentary

Police, fire services need your support
Our View: The Spokesman-Review urges voters to reject Tim Eyman's latest ballot box hoax.

Gary Crooks
For the editorial board

Initiative 747 is the stingier cousin of Initiative 722, which was tossed out by the courts because of constitutional defects.

I-722 sought a 2 percent limit on the amount any taxing district could raise per year. I-747 would limit the increase to 1 percent. The more than 1,700 taxing districts in the state could only exceed this amount by asking voters. That's a lot of elections. Perennial initiative author Tim Eyman says he lowered the figure to 1 percent to punish governments for fighting off I-722.

Petty? Sure. But the measure is undeniably popular and the state Republican Party has read the polls and hopped on board. However, GOP stalwarts such as former U.S. Sen. Slade Gorton, former Secretary of State Ralph Munro and former Gov. Dan Evans are against it. The conservative Washington Research Council, a pro-business group, is also opposed.

I-747's appeal is tied to the notion that ordinary citizens are overtaxed and government is squandering money. Proponents are fond of saying that Washingtonians pay taxes at the fifth-highest rate in the nation. But that isn't true in any meaningful way. Proponents point to a Tax Foundation study that includes federal taxes -- which state law, initiatives included, cannot control.

The Tax Foundation acknowledges that when state and local taxes are compared to income, Washington ranks 17th in the nation, not fifth. Plus, the state Department of Revenue reported in February that when the repeal of the motor vehicle tax is factored in, Washington's tax burden will drop to 20th nationally.

More to the point, DOR reported last year that the average property tax bill in the state rose by just 3.7 percent on existing properties, or about the rate of inflation. In Spokane County the average bill dropped 4.2 percent. Furthermore, property taxes as a proportion of personal income have dropped in the past five years, according to a study by the Economic Opportunity Institute.

These numbers simply do not justify the I-747 scenario of elderly citizens being forced from their homes by runaway property taxes.

Local government agencies that support fire, police, emergency medical services and libraries rely heavily on property taxes, and thus would suffer under I-747. The initiative assumes your local police and fire departments must not receive more than a 1 percent budget increase annually -- regardless of inflation, regardless of local needs -- unless voters grant an exception. The outpouring of gratitude for firefighters and emergency service personnel in New York City and across the nation would ring hollow if Initiative 747 were to pass. It would be akin to dropping a donation into a firefighter's boot, then taking it back at the ballot box.

With the economy in a slide and state revenues falling short of projections, I-747 should be viewed as another populist hoax.

Gary Crooks/For the editorial board

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