By Paul Queary
Associated Press
SEATTLE – Tim Eyman’s latest assault on Washington’s tax structure was winning by a wide margin in early returns today.
With 3 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Initiative 747 had 70 percent of the vote.
Initiative 747 would limit the growth of tax levies to 1 percent a year unless voters specifically approve a higher limit.
Eyman’s previous attempts to reduce taxes – Initiative 695 in 1999 and Initiative 722 last year – both passed easily but were later ruled unconstitutional because they were multi-pronged attacks on state and local taxes.
I-747 was much simpler and designed to withstand legal challenges.
While Eyman conceded the initiative was crafted as a form of payback for the local governments who sued to overturn I-695 and I-722, he called it his most moderate plan because it doesn’t actually cut taxes, just limits their growth.
The opposition campaign, mostly public employees’ unions, argued the limitation could devastate local fire districts, emergency medical services, libraries and other vital public services.
Because 1 percent is often far less than the rate of inflation, they said, local governments would eventually lose ground as they tried to do more with less money.
However, I-747’s potential impact was hard to measure.
The Department of Revenue estimated local governments would lose $115,246,000 over the 2001-2003 biennium. By the 2005-07 biennium, losses would grow to $571,496,000.
But those numbers assumed local governments wouldn’t seek or get voter approval to exceed the 1 percent cap if the initiative passed. Some governments were already preparing for such campaigns.
Eyman argued that voters would support tax increases for good purposes such as fire protection and libraries. Opponents said public servants shouldn’t have to pound the pavement for votes to balance their budgets.
A different set of problems applied to calculating how the initiative would affect individual homeowners.
The owner of an average $150,000 house would get a property tax break of $23 next year, growing to $126 in 2007, according to the Revenue Department. But a house worth $150,000 today would likely be worth more next year and more still in 2007, so its owner probably wouldn’t see his tax bill shrink.
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