OLYMPIA — Tim Eyman is getting back to basics.
Mukilteo’s king of initiative promoters filed paperwork Monday for a ballot measure with his signature call for cutting property taxes and keeping government lean.
His measure targets the flow of tax dollars into the state’s general fund, which pays for nearly all government operations except road building. It would cap the growth of revenues at the rate of inflation.
If the cap is breached, every excess dollar collected would be spent on lowering property taxes. This measure would apply to cities and counties as well, he said.
Transfers from the rainy-day fund and any streams of tax money approved by voters wouldn’t be subject to the inflation-rate cap on general fund revenue, Eyman said.
But infusions of federal spending — such as might occur through an economic stimulus package — would count toward the cap, he said.
“We’re saying government can grow. We let it grow at a rate voters will allow and voters can afford,” Eyman said moments after submitting the text of his latest initiative at the Secretary of State’s office.
With his 8-month-old daughter Riley Dawn in one arm, Eyman described the intricate measure as a “reasonable compromise” between government’s need for revenue to serve the people and the people’s need not to be overtaxed by government.
“They have to find ways to spend money more effectively,” Eyman said.
One of Eyman’s chief antagonists called the initiative “anti-prosperity” and vowed to vigorously oppose it.
“This initiative would destroy our common wealth, making it almost impossible for us to improve our schools, create new jobs, or provide health care to children who aren’t covered,” Andrew Villeneuve, executive director of the Northwest Progressive Institute, said in a prepared statement.
He said it would “paralyze government’s ability to respond to the basic needs of the people by imposing an ill-conceived, artificial limit on spending.”
Eyman filed four versions of the proposed initiative Monday, though it is assumed he will only pursue one of them for the November 2009 ballot.
To qualify, he and his partners, Jack and Mike Fagan of Spokane, will need to gather and turn in signatures of 241,153 valid voters. Deadline to do so is July 3.
Speaking to reporters Monday morning, Eyman dodged questions on how he’ll pay for the signature-gathering effort.
Last year, with Initiative 985, he did not have enough money from donors and his primary backer, Michael Dunmire, to cover all the costs of a professional signature gathering firm. He wound up getting a loan and used his home as collateral to make up the difference.
Voters in November defeated Initiative 985, which dealt with easing traffic congestion.
A second, separate property tax-related initiative also was filed Monday.
Sponsored by Linda Courtney Cox of Chelan, it would recalculate the values of properties as their assessed value in 2005 or the purchase price plus cost of improvements if the property was purchased after 2005. Inherited properties would retain the value assessed at the time of inheritance.
Increases in the taxable value would then be capped at 1 percent per year, with a new value determined when a property is sold.
Eyman is best known for passing initiatives that limit property taxes and vehicle license tabs.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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