The airwaves have been filled lately with advertising asking you to vote for or against Initiative 1098, which would tax those earning more than $200,000 a year (filing federal taxes as individuals) or $400,000 (joint filers). If you have a question about the initiative and what it would do, submit it to teresa@myedmondsnews.com, and it will be included as part of the upcoming forum this Thursday, featuring Initiative 1098 supporters and opponents.
Everyone is invited to attend the forum, will meet at Edmonds Community College’s Black Box Theater, the second in a series of Civic Engagement Forums co-sponsored by My Edmonds News, MLTNews and Lynnwood Today.
Speakers for the forum include Bill Gates Sr. and Marilyn Watkins on the pro side and Gov. Dan Evans (unconfirmed) and Paul Guppy for the opposition. The debate will be aired on the “Civic Engagement” public affairs TV show hosted by D.J. Wilson, which is taped before a live studio audience .
Edmonds Community College is located at 20310 68th Ave. W. in Lynnwood. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Seating is limited to 200. Arrive early to ensure a seat. The program will be broadcast to over 125,000 households in Snohomish County.
If this passes they will not stop at going after individuals making more than $400k.
It will give government open door to take what they want from us related to higher taxes.
They use ploys such as giving money to education which most of the money will end up with the teachers union and look what they have done for us over the past 20 years?! That is a separate topic and needs a complete reform vs. the highjack method of funding that has happened and our schools are no better off. We spend more per capita than any other nation and our schools are a disgrace, so more money is not the answer, we need to have a detailed audit and how the money is being spent vs. asking us to blindly offer more and being taxed to death.
Say no to this tax and tell your government official to do more with less just as the rest of us are doing and stop trying to pit us against each other, as this is not what our country was founded on. We need to get back to the basic principal of smaller government and people being responsible for themselves.
well said and totally true
I would actually favor exploring a modest, progressive income tax if we could trust Olympia to make the impact on taxpayers revenue-neutral. A state revenue stream based on income tax would be more stable and dependable than the current hodgepodge of sales taxes, fees, surcharges, etc.
The problem is that we can’t trust Olympia. They have raided funds / accounts that were supposedly “sequestered” dozens of times to balance the books and keep pet projects in the pink.
Approving a new, additional revenue channel at a time like this sends a 100-percent-wrong signal to state government. They’ll use it as a toehold to extract more and more money from the middle class when they should be learning to do what all voters have to do: live within their means.
I just don’t believe the governor and legislature recognize any restraints on spending.
Tom:
My view is that you’re precisely right. The legislature must control their spending and that means dealing with the trade unions. Compensation of government workers needs to come under the same constraints as in the private sector. Until that happens there will always be a shortage of funds to do anything else.