Everett, Wash.
Published: Friday, November 9, 2007

Don't even think about ignoring voters on I-747

 What a slim majority of the state Supreme Court struck down in a bizarre ruling Thursday -- the six-year-old, voter-approved 1 percent cap on property tax growth -- the Legislature must reinstate as a first order of business in January.

If local political leaders think voters were sending an anti-tax message in Tuesday's election, they'll see a full-scale revolt if they try to take advantage of the taxing windfall the court handed them when it ruled Initiative 747 unconstitutional.

Gov. Chris Gregoire, a continent away in Washington, D.C., wasted no time Thursday in calling on local taxing authorities to assure her they would not raise property taxes beyond 1 percent in the upcoming budgets. With I-747 invalidated, governments from the state, counties and cities, on down to local cemetery districts, have built up plenty of unused taxing authority.

While we doubt many would go that far, some who are currently struggling to avoid cuts in services might be tempted to use some of that increased authority. We have one word for them: don't. Unless, that is, you want to inspire a distrust among voters that you'll never overcome -- and that's in addition to losing your job at the next election.

Voters approved I-747 in 2001 by an overwhelming margin -- 58 to 42 percent -- and most clearly still think their property taxes are too high. Most governments have adapted to the 1 percent limit, which under I-747 could be surpassed only with the blessing of voters.

The Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling -- with two substitute justices voting with the majority -- said that voters had the potential to be misled by the text of I-747, which told voters incorrectly that the measure would reduce the cap on increases in property tax collections from 2 percent to 1 percent. That error was unavoidable -- a previous initiative that had lowered the cap from 6 percent to 2 percent had been thrown out after I-747's final draft was completed, too late to change the text. However, the voters pamphlet explained all that to voters, and it's ridiculous to believe that voter confusion was responsible for I-747's passage.

The four dissenting justices wrote that "There is no confusion, ambiguity or uncertainty in this initiative."

Nor should there be any ambiguity about what must happen now. Local governments should stay out of taxpayers' pockets and the Legislature should reinstate the 1 percent cap. If they don't, voters' response won't be ambiguous, either.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA