Article by Erik Smith. Published on Thursday, June 10, 2010 EST.
Opponents Mull Tactic Against Tax-Rollback Initiative
By Erik Smith
Staff writer/ Washington State Wire
OLYMPIA, June 10.—As the state’s soda-pop distributors get set for a campaign to roll back most of the “7-Eleven” taxes approved by this year’s Legislature, opponents are mulling a decline-to-sign campaign – and that spells trouble for the record-breaking effort to collect signatures.
The Washington Beverage Association goes to court Thursday to settle last-minute challenges to the ballot title for I-1107, a measure that would repeal new taxes passed by the Legislature this year on soda pop, candy and bottled water. Whatever the judge decides, the pop distributors will finally have a green light to print petitions and begin collecting signatures.
It’s a daunting task as it is – supporters must collect 241,000 signatures by July 2. Never before has an initiative campaign collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in just three weeks’ time. The fastest that election officials can remember the feat being accomplished is six weeks – for the Service Employees’ International Union’s I-1029 in 2008.
And now the threat from the “revenue coalition” adds another roadblock.
Comes From Pro-Tax Quarter
Sandeep Kaushik, a prominent spokesman for the poverty lobby in this year’s battle over tax increases, said supporters of this year’s tax increases are considering mounting a “decline-to-sign” campaign against the initiative. That could mean a big block of organizations in the labor and social-service quarter will actively discourage their members and supporters from signing the measure.
“It’s under discussion right now,” he said.
Exactly where that effort will come from is made clear by the list of organizations challenging the ballot title. The Washington Beverage Association is challenging wording written by the attorney general’s office. But so is the Washington State Hospital Association, the Washington Education Association, the Service Employees International Union and the Washington Association of Churches.
Kaushik, it should be noted, also is spokesman for I-1098, the income-tax initiative that is actively gathering signatures with the support of unions and social-service organizations.
The pop-distributors’ rollback measure would cut taxes by about $100 million a year over the next three years. The taxes are scheduled to expire at that point.
It is not clear how the rollback would affect another measure on this year’s ballot. Referendum 52 would issue school-construction bonds and make the temporary sales tax on bottled water into a permanent tax. But if the temporary tax is eliminated and R-52 passes, exactly what becomes of the bottled water tax is a matter for lawyers and courts to decide.Your support matters.
Public service journalism is important today as ever. If you get something from our coverage, please consider making a donation to support our work. Thanks for reading our stuff.
