Sunday, October 23, 2016

Confusion over the State GOP campaign: What makes them believe that electing Republicans will stop a state income tax?

The income tax in this state has been, if memory serves, presented to the voters in some form or another on ten separate occasions.  Ten times, the voters have rejected it.

Right or wrong, everyone reading this has to understand that a state income tax CANNOT be implemented without a vote of the people.

Thus, I have two issues with this approach:

First:
2. Either chamber of the Washington State Legislature can initiate an amendment to the state's constitution. Each house (the Washington State Senate and the Washington House of Representatives) must approve the proposal, or a version of it, by a two-thirds vote. If this happens, the proposed legislatively referred constitutional amendment goes on a statewide ballot at the next general election in the state. If it is approved by a simple majority, it becomes part of the constitution.[3]
Second:

Having just been freshly screwed by the GOP-controlled State Senate, who allowed the largest gas tax/tab fee increases in this state's history; while simultaneously refusing to put a referendum clause on this tax jack as they used the time-tested democrat ploy of adding a bogus emergency clause to this rip off to make it effectively impossible for the people to gather the needed signatures to put this theft to a vote... I don't believe for one minute that electing anyone in particular will keep an income tax from becoming a problem... GOP or no.

As has been documented here many times, my own 18th District Senator, Ann "Gas Tax" Rivers, ran on a platform of opposing gas tax increases AND tab fee increases to get elected, writing:


...only to betray her district and this county by voting FOR this monstrosity which cost us all a few bucks:


THIS "Republican" put it in WRITING that she would oppose the biggest gas tax increase in the history of this state.

And when the time came, what did she do?  Jam a stick in our eye to take care of her King County buddies by raping our wallets to pay for their boondoggles... costing every man, woman and child in this county in excess of $1500.

Each.

Rivers' only regret, according to the video from her town hall meeting of January 9 in Battle Ground?

Not that she betrayed us by shattering her promise... but that she made that pledge at all.

Go to her "issues" page right now and as near as I can tell, the words "income tax" don't appear and even if she claimed to oppose such a tax, how could you believe her?

After all, didn't she also pledge to oppose gas tax increases, etc?  And how did that work out for us?

So the idea that putting or keeping a house or both houses in GOP control as some sort of anti-income tax panacea is simply not true.

The idea that not electing Republicans would result in an income tax somehow is equally, in my opinion, also not true.

The 2/3rds vote requirement and the long history of refusing to implement an income tax prevents that from happening.  But the past cycle taught me well: if you're going o count on the GOP from blowing a hole in our wallets... Then I've got an I-5 Bridge to sell you.

Vote for whomever you like for whatever reason you like.  But do yourself a favor:  don't vote for someone in the GOP because of this.

You're liable to be disappointed.

No comments: