Revenues took big Eyman hit

Kudos to The Herald for the April 7 editorial “State relies on an unfair, insufficient tax system” that highlighted our horrible tax system and insufficient revenues for basic services compared to that of our neighboring states.

However, the editorial missed a major reason for this situation — I-695. Before I-695 there was sufficient revenues to provide a reasonable level of services for the people of our state. Furthermore, the automobile excise tax was somewhat progressive, because low-income people generally don’t drive expensive cars.

So we can thank Tim Eyman and his supporters for making our tax system even worse than it was before and gutting a revenue steam that provided many services that are no longer available or significantly underfunded such as the state ferry system and support for local law enforcement.

Jerry Fraser

Lynnwood