Lies and More Lies

Lies and More Lies
by Jim Parshall

Last week I mentioned the Initiative 695 campaign in Washington State as proof that not all people are idiots. To recap: this is a multipronged attack upon a state that has the dubious distinction of having the 6th highest car tax of 50. It will drop the amount charged for license tabs from the sky high 2% of a never seen in reality "manufacturers list price" to a reasonable $30.00 per vehicle. The second half of this initiative will force government to come to the people for approval every time it wants to raise fees or taxes.

Hurrah!

What is amazing to me are the litany of lies the government and fellow travellers are spewing in their attempt to confound the public and crush the widespread support this initiative has. Even more surprising: some people are buying it. Here are some of the more creative fibs spouted many times daily by radio ads and bleeding hearts. If I-695 passes, they say, the following will occur:

Our roads will crumble.
All road improvement or road construction projects will cease.
Ferry service will be cut, with the possible elimination of some routes.
Some small towns and cities will lose up to 40% of their operating budget.
Over 1000 police officers will be fired.
Many towns will lose 911 service.
Many towns will burn as fire stations are forced to close.
Mass transit will see a major loss of operating funds thus decreasing the amount of both busses and routes. (Pierce Transit claims they will be cutting service by 25% if this passes.)

And on and on and on... Hello, reality check!

Let's see. State budget is roughly 45 billion dollars annually. This initiative will remove maybe 1 billion dollars of that budget. Now that is 1/45 of the annual budget. Right. A loss of 1/45th of the state's revenue is going to bring to an end to life as we, the citizens, know it. And I have a really nice bridge for sale. There is no way, none, zip, nada that this thing could even remotely happen.

Let's put this into perspective. If a person makes $30,000 a year this would amount to somewhere a $300 cut in pay. What does that add up to in real world items? How about 100 Lattes or 45 Teriyaki lunches at Happy Teriyaki. I can't think of anyone, anywhere that could not manage a new budget with this loss. I doubt they would have to stop driving 25% of the time or cease buying food and live on Top Ramen (well ok Top Ramen is food). Is anyone putting this thing into a common sense equation?

I don't care what demented calculator these people used to figure this out, it could never add up to this kind of decimation. If it did, and again it won't, but if it did, I would not be mad about this, I would be mad about how the heck all this stuff ended up getting funded through license tabs.

By way of example, the city of Des Moines, a small city just south of Seattle, says they are going to lose 40% of their operating budget if this goes through. What on Earth are they talking about? If this is true, it is even more a reason to pass this measure. Why would people think it is ok for license fees from people in other cities, Spokane for instance, to go to funding the general coffers of a city on the other side of the state. Same goes with all those listed effects save the two at the top.

Believe it or not, cities are already passing new taxes to combat I-695 effects before it has even been voted on. New Castle, Lakewood, and more to come I am sure, have both passed new 6% taxes on services within the city. I-695 has not even passed and, lo and behold, rather than budget to meet the shortfall they just raise taxes on us again. Want to be these "little" tax increase are not rolled back if I-695 fails? I'd put money on it.

"Why tighten the belt when instead we can just suck more blood from our apathetic citizenry?" is the cry of local politicians.

Folks, whether you live in Washington or not, this is a plea to stand up against these people who obviously think you are idiots. Prove my columns title wrong. GO and GO NOW to your city and county council meetings and put in your words on this. Write letters to the paper and your representatives stating your displeasure at this violent assault on both our checkbooks and our intelligence.

If a person loses 1% of their income, do they send their kids out for adoption, sell their cars and walk, and stop buying food? No. They don't. They figure out a new budget and go on living. Perhaps not as luxuriously, but still they will find a way to buy the things they need.

Citizens can't give themselves a raise. They must go to a boss and ask for one. The government should have to do that with us as well. After all, aren't we the boss?

(Publisher's note: a question I have for those against I-695 is "What are those extremely high gas taxes for anyway?" which furthers the point... if you live in Washington, vote YES on I-695)