I am writing in regard to the recent editorial (“How would you fix state taxes,” The Herald, Nov. 11).
Obviously those who make up The Herald Editorial Board don’t understand why a state income tax vote has been defeated every time it has been on the ballot. There are very few voters who believe that if a state income tax was approved that the state Legislature would ever permanently reduce sale tax, property tax, B&O tax, etc.
When the state proposed the legalization of gambling, the profits were to go to funding schools. That lasted about two years when the Legislature decided that money should be put in the General Fund, and the schools again became underfunded. When voters approved the first $30 car tabs and the court found that it was illegal, Gov. Gary Locke ordered that car tabs be lowered to $30. Well that lasted about two years and the Legislature raised car tabs to fund the Department of Transportation. Have you noticed how many of the advisory items on the ballot get defeated, but the Legislature never reverses their decisions.
These are the reasons that a state income tax keeps being defeated; Washington voters know that it would end up being another additional tax and that lowest incomes in the state will be in worse shape that they were. Regardless of who is elected to the state Senate and House, voters cannot trust them to make good decisions. Remember this has been a tax-and-spend state government for decades.
Stanley C. Stebing
Stanwood
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