GOP wants Eyman's 2/3 vote tax rule in state constitution
OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - Republicans in the state Senate began an effort Thursday to enshrine a voter-approved anti-tax rule in the Washington Constitution.
The proposed constitutional amendment would require lawmakers to have a two-thirds majority to raise taxes. Voters have approved the idea on multiple occasions, but the Legislature is able to suspend initiatives after two years.
"As a citizen, I find it extremely insulting and arrogant that my elected officials continually slap down the will of the people," said Republican Sen. Don Benton of Vancouver, a sponsor of one of the amendment proposals. The initiative again passed with 64 percent of the vote in November as I-1185.
Social services lobbyist Nick Federici said he believes a constitutional amendment would tie the hands of the Legislature at a time when lawmakers are looking to add funding to education. He also noted that people can go to the ballot to repeal taxes that lawmakers put in place.
"The people always have the chance to repeal their legislators as well," Federici. "We think there are already checks and balances in place."
Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, used the committee hearing to point out that the measure passed in many legislative districts, including those of her Democratic counterparts. Sen. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, cautioned that support for the initiative may not reflect support for changing the state's constitution.
Roach said she'd like to see.
"I would love to test that," Roach said. "I think we should put it to the vote of the people - and that's what we're doing here."
The amendment faces a daunting road to passage, given that many Democrats oppose the two-thirds rule, including Gov. Jay Inslee.
The proposed constitutional amendment would require lawmakers to have a two-thirds majority to raise taxes. Voters have approved the idea on multiple occasions, but the Legislature is able to suspend initiatives after two years.
"As a citizen, I find it extremely insulting and arrogant that my elected officials continually slap down the will of the people," said Republican Sen. Don Benton of Vancouver, a sponsor of one of the amendment proposals. The initiative again passed with 64 percent of the vote in November as I-1185.
Social services lobbyist Nick Federici said he believes a constitutional amendment would tie the hands of the Legislature at a time when lawmakers are looking to add funding to education. He also noted that people can go to the ballot to repeal taxes that lawmakers put in place.
"The people always have the chance to repeal their legislators as well," Federici. "We think there are already checks and balances in place."
Sen. Pam Roach, R-Auburn, used the committee hearing to point out that the measure passed in many legislative districts, including those of her Democratic counterparts. Sen. Steve Conway, D-Tacoma, cautioned that support for the initiative may not reflect support for changing the state's constitution.
Roach said she'd like to see.
"I would love to test that," Roach said. "I think we should put it to the vote of the people - and that's what we're doing here."
The amendment faces a daunting road to passage, given that many Democrats oppose the two-thirds rule, including Gov. Jay Inslee.
Wow, ok look at these and then tell me you trust Olympia to raise taxes:
Â
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Documents-King-County-spent-millions-to-settle-Metro-lawsuits-190331581.html
Â
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Judge-rules-WSDOT-must-turn-over-520-Bridge-documents-190327261.html
Â
MILLIONS WASTED. Any of you suckers still trust them?
 @NW-Economist NO!!
Whatever makes it harder for the crooks in Olympia to extort more money from me I am for. Still have not seen a $30 car tab. Closest I have come is a $37 tab for a 10 year old equipment trailer. I heard one official say that wasting $300,000 on a mistake on a project totaling $75 mill was insignificant. I wonder how many taxpayers in this State think $300,000 is an insignificant amount of money. If you spent an average of $1500 a year in sales tax, this agency just wasted 20 years of your payments. As long as this mentality exists in Government I support no additional revenue, they have enough money, they just don't know how to manage it.
@Alert Eagle First of all, anybody who really thought they were going to have $30 car tabs were correct, and that is what paying the state. You just over looked the county's charge, the city charges, WSDOT charges..........................
You see, Eyman knew this would happen, and if you read the voters pamphlet you would have knwon it too.
Eyman got his money as he always does-win or loose.
As for these guys who make mistakes, have thier luandry cleaned and cell paid for on our dime-lets send them a bill. Â
 @snoopy84 I believe most of the additional fees and taxes were added after the initiative passed and after a court finding. Both times.
As for the "send them a bill" comment, how would you propose to do that, short of voting them out of office or firing them?
The GOP is determined to BANKRUPT *ALL* government and turn the business of ruling society over to private business. If you want a toll of breathing, just go along with their programs.
 @JLS1950 Hopefully the GOP will be extinct soon and just a memory.Â
 @JLS1950 http://www.komonews.com/news/local/189282911.html
@JLS1950 OBAMA IS UP TO $17 TRILLION AND IT IS EXPECTED TO BE $20,000,000,000 BY 2016, WHAT KOOL AID HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING.......NOW THATS BANKRUBTING AMERICA
 @hotrod45  @JLS1950 More than a third of that debt was generated under Geo. W. Bush, and another third was generated under Geo. H.W. and Rocket Ronnie. And what they left us for they $12 Trillion boondoggle was a nation and an economy literally falling to pieces around us. Not since the winter of 1932-33 had we seen such a damaged economy.
But that won;t convince you, because you are just WAY too committed to your dark demon tales and blaming everything including your own stupidity on the "Liberals" and the black man.
 @hotrod45  @JLS1950 You know, when you type in all uppercase, it reads as if you are shouting - as if you feel you must raise your voice in order to sound authoritative. It also makes you sound as if your are clenching your fists or perhaps feeling the grips on your handgun. It just makes you sound so thoughtful, intelligent and respectful of others' voices ...NOT!Â
It is anti-Obama posters and birthers who have repeatedly pulled out the "race card". Simply pointing out that historical fact is not a fault. However, the fact that so many "conservatives" pounce on it that way is pretty clear evidence of their own insecurity on that subject. And claiming "friends of all races" is evidence prima facie of failure to understand that there is only ONE race: the HUMAN race. We are all in this together - and skin color is no more differentiation than hair color or eye color.
As for the last four years, Obama got handed a national economy that had all the strength and integrity of a 1965 Mustang that had been sitting in some farmer's field for the last 40 years: for the prior 8 years, the administration had been focused on fighting two very expensive wars while cutting taxes and "deregulating" all sectors of the financial industry where con men and thieves were behaving with all the honesty and integrity of the Big Bad Wolf. The result was decay and destruction and "rust" in all sectors of American industry, including banking/financial, manufacturing, marketing and service sectors. Getting the country back on its feet was analogous to getting that rusty 1965 Mustang back on the road: engine overhaul, transmission overhaul, drive-line and third-member work, new electrical, new tires and brakes, new upholstery and carpet, extensive body work, new glass, new paint... Republicans seem to believe that the former rust bucket is supposed to profitably earn its keep as a luxury limousine while all this reconstructive work is done by unpaid "volunteers" for gratis (and honestly not even much of the latter!)Â
Republicans and their "benefactors" enjoyed a free lunch for eight years and more - but the truth is that no lunch is actually free, and when the fat cats left the table and walked out of the restaurant, the rest of us were left to wash dishes in order to pay their tab.
@JLS1950 YOU SOUND LIKE AN INTELEGENT PERSON UN TILL THE LAST PARAGRAPH. AND THEN YOU DIDNT GO ONTO THE LAST FOUR YEARS.
@JLS1950 PULLING THE RACE CARD THATSÂ THE Â WAY SOME LIBERALS THINKI HAVE A LOT OF GREAT FRENDS OF ALL RACES. SORRY YOU THINK THAT.
 @JLS1950 And if you want to keep spending money on sinking bridges then listen to JLS.
 @NW-Economist I wonder where you got your degree in "economics"... K-Mart on a Blue-Light Special?
If we require two-thirds supermajority to increase taxes, we should also require two-thirds supermajority to decrease them. Treat all tax measures equally.Â
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/189282911.html
Aaaaaahahahahahahahaha!!! Â Good luck with that! Â Wonder what the legislature will do when they're forced to fund all six periods of the school day. Â Republicans running away from the state's obligations, just like they do in congress.
What is wrong with all you koolaid drinkers?
Â
Look how many times WA has wasted money.
Â
-college tuition for illegal immigrants
Â
-sinking pontoons in Lake WA
-sound transit failing over and over with millions in cost overages and over a decade late on the "light rail to nowhere"
Â
-state representatives running up gigantic overages on cellphone plans (who the hell buys plans with limits these days anyway?!)
Â
etc etc etc
Â
WHY DO ANY OF YOU TRUST OLYMPIA TO SPEND YOUR MONEY?
 @NW-Economist I would bet that the "illegal immigrants" receiving "college tuition" (a) aren't getting anything of the sort and (b) are U.S. citizens who were born here. The state does not give free tuition to students insofar as I know.
The leaking pontoons were created by a PRIVATE CONTRACTOR in case you missed that point. Blame the PRIVATE CONTRACTOR.
The light rail runs from the airport to downtown and is slated to continue to at least Northgate: that is hardly "nowhere".
Not sure what to think of the cell phone costs: WA should be getting an enterprise deal from the providers, but I'd bet some well-connected providers have been blocking the idea.
@JLS1950 @NW-Economist It was supposed to continue south of the Airport also, but looks like that won't happen, but yet ST wants cities like Des Moines & Federal Way to cointinue funding something they probably won't benefit from
 @choliscott  @JLS1950 I can remember when I-5 in Seattle went from Roanoke Street at the very north end of Capitol Hill all the way to Ravenna Blvd and then later to Bothell Way (now Lake City Way,) As the comment in the menu of one of my favorite restaurants: "Mitt time ist perfection - allow extra time". Rome was not built in a day either.
@JLS1950
You don't read the news do you?Â
http://www.komonews.com/news/local/189282911.html
Â
What do you do when the person who pays the bill won't object to it being their fault? I guess you suck it up and pay. How many people use the light rail?
The program was designed to be for children of illegal immigrants who were brought here through no action of their own, but it still pays them over natural born WA residents. Learn reality. Even you can't defend the cellphone BS, so you try and blow smoke. Â
Â
@NW-Economist GO GETTUM YOU SAID IT BETTER THEN I COULD. YOUR 100% ON
 @hotrod45 You're still screeching and not using your words. Please, kiddo, take your nap, settle down, then take a deep breath and try to speak rationally like a mature adult.Â
Â
What is a "gettum," and then you could do what, exactly? And whose 100 percent is on what? This is exactly why you need to stay in school.
Â
Complete sentences, real English words and punctuation are the path to finally earning the respect you're constantly wondering why you don't get from anyone now.Â
Get over yerself. Add something to the topic instead of dictating.
Is that too much to ask?
Â
Get a life Marge.
Â
@MargeGunderson @hotrod45Â GET THEM - Old skool.
The problem in this STate and in America, is not being overtaxed, it's seeing our tax money going to the Red States who aren't paying their fair share, and yet use most of the resources. Â And all of the Corporate Welfare and tax breaks for billionaires that the GOP pushed for when we had two wars going on. Â They want to extract everything out of the working Americans, so that guys like Rumsefeld and the Koch Brothers, can pay a fraction of what we do, which means that States are crippled by lack of taxes flowing back to them for important things like.. you know... Probation departments, supervision of criminals, JAIL space. Â Do you guys realize how many people are turned away in our local jails after being arrested, because we lack the money to house them? Â ANd do you realize how much money the oil industry gets in Tax-payer-funded subsidies each year (even tho their profits (after everything is paid for,) are in the hundreds of billions??? Â Â
Thank you. someone else gets it
The federal constitution guarantees each state a republic form of government. Republics don't have binding of delegates, initiative, referendum, or recall. Most don't have popular election of prosecutors, judges, or governors. A legislative body takes care of all that. Sutekh is right - initiative has crippled California and it will drive Washington back into the dark ages. But does anyone care about the federal constitution?
Terrible idea. This is exactly what crippled California.
@Sutekh What crippled California is that the people said no more taxes and the polititians continued to spend spend spend spend spend without a care or concern for every little pet project that would buy them votes.
@NitroxmanThat was part of it, it was opening  the doors to all the Illigals and took all they could. free school, free collage, free food, free housing and on and on. they are hard workers but they send all the money across the boarder and it does nothing for California. and the Jails are full. there is 10.9% unenployment( over 2 million people) and need $19,000,000,000 that is with a B,
@Sutekh THAT IS WHY ALL THE MONEY IS LEAVING CALIFORNIA. LETS TAXUM SND SEE HOW FAST THE CANÂ LEAVE A SINKING SHIP. PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS WHEN YOU LEAVE CALIFORNIA.
 @hotrod45 Calm down, kiddo, and stop screeching at the top of your lungs like you're late for your nap.
Please take a deep breath, collect your thoughts and try to speak calmly and rationally, like grownups do, and people might start to listen.
Â
You're so busy screaming you aren't even making sense or using real words. What the heck is a "taxum," and what "the can" are you babbling about leaving a sinking ship?Â
Â
Â
 @hotrod45 Reactionary response, as we've come to expect.  "ALL THE MONEY" is just same reaction as the gun nuts claiming gun control means collecting "ALL THE GUNS." Â
 @Sutekh We need to boot Eyman and company to MT or AK with no return postage.Â
 @Sutekh I was literally going to post those same words. The anti-tax zealots destroyed California that way.  Eyman fancies himself a Howard Jarvis... the architect of bad policy.  Can't believe the GOP would stoop so low as to associate themselves with that guy. Oh wait.. I can. Â
 @DT  @Sutekh The GOP is going to need a lot more than rebranding. Hopefully the party will be extinct soon. Can't stand their policies!Â
 @DT  @Sutekh if its so bad why did it pass by huge margins here many times???????
 @sunnysandiego  @DT  @Sutekh How is it wrong to restrain people who have proven themselves to waste billions of dollars? Did you see a refund check for those sinking pontoons in the lake? How about that college tuition money for illegals while the GET program gets canceled? Huh?!
 @NW-Economist  @DT  @Sutekh the same reason we pay police to police us.
Â
we know what's right but we also know that we and many other's despite knowing what's right will still choose to do what's wrong.
Â
Get it.
I don't see what the problem is with this limit. The problem I see is that they keep spending money they don't have and starting new projects they have no means to pay for and when all else fails they just raise taxes some more. Reminds me of a kid, you have a credit card and checks so that must mean you have plenty of money. In order to at least get a grip on what's going on I don't think it's unreasonable for at least 2/3rds of them to have to agree.
The 'will of the people' does not reflect any intelligence whatsoever. Haven't any of those voting for this legislative manacle read anything about what happened in CA with the same stupid legislation? How ridiculous that we have to repeat this form of ignorant behavior - why can't we look, read and learn from the state that has already done this and discovered how disasterious it is.
 @ytboarder What part of California did you come from and why are you in the rainy northwest?
 @ytboarder It's called accountability. People are tired of throwing good money after bad. No money for something, raise taxes. It's a vicious circle. And CA has more problems than just this "same stupid legislation."
So the GOP wants to genuflect to this self serving ex frat boy who won't get a real job. Figures. Moderate conseratives are left without anywhere to go as the GOP is insane.
This comment has been deleted
[fistpump] Yesss!
Instead of calling it an "Anti Tax Rule", I think calling it a "Pro Government Accountability Rule" might be more accurate. The people of this state by vote are not Anti Tax. They just want to have a say before their taxes go up having been burned before too many times by the "public servants" in Olympia. Unfortunately the sheeple will vote for this but are too stupid to get rid of the thieves in Olympia that caused this in the first place.
@Bill THE POLITICIANS DO IT FOR THE VOTEÂ IT SHOULD BE 66% OF THE VOTE