Quite a few big news stories circling around Capitol Hill and the rest of the city and Washington State:
- As we told you back in March, labor issues for Seattle’s garbage workers won’t affect the Hill. So, while a strike against city contractor Waste Management hits garbage collection in the beige areas of this city map, Capitol Hill’s cans should continue to be emptied. Our area’s contractor, Clean Scapes, isn’t facing a contract expiration until next March.
- Initiatives have been filed to privatize the state’s liquor stores. Backers need to collect more than 240,000 signatures to get the initiatives on the fall ballot.
- Also hoping to get into the 240k club, Bill Gates Sr. and other backers of an initiative to introduce an income tax for Washington’s highest earners. The big press event went down in the Central District, by the way. The proposed income tax would not apply to neighborhood news bloggers.
- City Council passes aggressive panhandling bill, mayor waits to veto it. 43rd Dems come out against it, too.
- Crosscut says Broadway and Pike/Pine — and other urban centers — need a community center.
- Next Wednesday night, City Council and the Mayor’s Office are hosting a public hearing on Seattle’s 2011 budget — and looming cuts in services. Meeting is at 5 PM at the New Holly Gathering Hall. Details here.
I’ll support I-1077 wholeheartedly because lord knows we need the revenue. But I’m disappointed that it doesn’t bring down the sales tax by a penny or two. The sales tax is not only the most regressive tax there is, it also discourages shopping locally, at least for big-ticket items. It’s just too easy to dodge sales taxes on the Internet (legally or not). I was hoping I could ask people to “sign the petition to reduce the sales tax” and I’m afraid it’s going to be a very hard sell without this feature.
Not true, ChrisJB. It won’t be a hard sell at all. Working people around the country are sick and tired of paying out the ass for everything while rich folks get away with paying little or nothing. Join the movement.
Poll: Two-thirds support income tax on rich in Washington
Sixty-six percent of people in Wahington support the idea of an income tax on rich people, a new survey shows.
On Wednesday Bill Gates Sr. formally launched the Iniative-1077 campaign. I-1077 would tax couples with adjusted gross incomes greater than $400,000 annually, or incomes of more than $200,000 for individuals. It also would cut the state property tax by 20 percent and increase the business-and-occupation tax credit to $4,800.
Gates Sr. said this initiative would bring in about $1 billion per year for education and health programs.
The SurveyUSA/KING5 poll showed support across all sectors for I-1077.
People were asked:
A proposed initiative would create an income tax in Washington state on people making $200,000 per year and on couples making twice that. It would also cut the state’s portion of the property tax by 20%, and end the business and occupation tax for small businesses. Do you support? Or do you oppose? This proposed initiative?
Support: 66 percent.
Oppose: 27 percent.
Not sure: 6 percent.
The survey of 500 adults in Washington was taken Wednesday. There was no subsection of the populace opposed to the idea. Republicans, for example, were for it 57 percent to 36 percent. The margin of error was 4.2 percent.
Organizers will need to collect more than 240,000 valid petition signatures by July 2 to qualify I-1077 for the November ballot.
I hope you’re right, but we’ll have to see how well those poll numbers hold up against the tsunami of misleading ads that will surely flood the airwaves this fall. Before January’s victory, Oregon voted down tax-the-rich measures many times over many years due to high-powered campaigns designed to confuse people as to where their real interests lay. The voter education effort (especially in outer-suburban and rural areas) that will be needed to counter this kind of assault is huge and might not be possible between now and November. A decade might be more realistic for a policy change of this magnitude. I hope it won’t take that long, but I guarantee the fight will be fierce.