Help us do the math on this

It was nice to read that Gov. Gregoire is pushing to keep Initiative 747 in effect. However, the description of the bill is confusing and it would help if The Herald would clarify what “1 percent” means. One percent of what? Is it 1 percent of the total tax revenue? (That wouldn’t even keep up with inflation.) Is it a 1 percent cap on the tax rate? (That would be about eight times more than inflation.) Is it a 1 percent cap on the increase of each person’s property tax from the previous year? I tried to understand the wording of I-747 and it was even confusing to me. (I deal with calculations and numbers all day, so multiplication is not a foreign word to me.) I had called my local state rep and he didn’t know the difference between “tax” and “tax rate”! I kid you not. I would hope The Herald could help educate us readers on how this 1 percent is calculated.

Darrell Hambley

Monroe

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