|
Printer Friendly |
I-695 debate gets hot and heavy
I-695 debate gets hot and heavy
By JIM HALEY Herald Writer
The sponsor of the $30 car tab initiative told a group of business leaders
Tuesday their employees might not demand pay raises if they spend a lot less
on their vehicle license.
To that, there were nervous chuckles in the Holiday Inn meeting room full
of people from the county's two largest chambers of commerce, as well as politicians
and others.
State and local politicians, Initiative 695 sponsor Tim Eyman said,
are not afraid to raise their own salaries. Why shouldn't the average taxpayer
get a little extra in the pocketbook, he asked. Why not send a message to state
lawmakers in Olympia that people are taxed too heavily, he added.
"The politicians just don't get it," he said.
But eliminating the motor vehicle excise tax will halt attempts to fix traffic
congestion problems and strike close to home where the revenue helps with mass
transit, law and justice, and public health, countered Mike Vaska, a Seattle
lawyer representing the No on I-695 campaign.
"It will be a thrill ride going off that cliff," Vaska said. "But
when you get to the bottom, it will be messy."
The initiative is more like fool's gold, he added.
"It promises something for nothing."
The two met face to face at the debate sponsored in part by South County and
Everett Area chambers of commerce, one of a dozen or so confrontations held
so far in anticipation of the Nov. 2 general election.
Eyman, from Mukiltleo, gathered more than 514,000 signatures to get the measure
on the ballot, the second-most signatures ever gathered for a state initiative.
But the No on I-695 campaign has been under way only a few weeks, and Vaska
and others are becoming more confident because voters are becoming more cognizant
of the costs.
"We've got people listening," he said after the meeting.
He agreed that the measure was plenty popular during the signature gathering,
"but that doesn't mean they're buying. It just means they're looking."
Mark Funk, a spokesman for No on I-695, scoffed at Eyman's suggestion that
people would prefer to lose most of the motor vehicle tax to a pay raise. He
accused Eyman of making a lot of wild statements in the campaign.
"It's absurd how long this guy can continue to go around making statements
like that and nobody calls him on it," Funk said.
But Eyman accused the other side of lies, threats and scare tactics, trying
to change the tide on I-695.
Big business, labor and all kinds of environmental and social service groups
have come out against the initiative. That's all fine with Eyman.
"They have a lot of groups on their side. We only have people. It's up
to the taxpayers to decide whether Initiative 695 is good for them, and obviously
it is."
Here are some of the things that could happen if the measure passes:
Hundreds of millions of dollars in road projects in congested Snohomish County
will be stopped. The state won't be able to follow through on the $2.4 billion
Referendum 49 that was approved last year by voters to help relieve traffic
congestion. Motor vehicle tax money would have been used to guarantee bonds.
R-49 also cut the motor vehicle excise tax.
Snohomish County and all county cities would lose revenue from the motor
vehicle tax. Small cities without a tax base would suffer more. The county share
is about $3.13 million.
Snohomish Health District would have to cut services or make up 17 percent
of its annual budget.
Community Transit would have to reduce or eliminate routes while losing nearly
$18 million a year by 2001.
Eyman said shortfalls in the first two years could be made up by a $1 billion
state surplus. People would spend more, generating more sales tax receipts
to increase the pot for funding these programs in future years if the Legislature
so deems, he said.
Eyman sees the only way his measure can lose is if supporters don't come
to the polls.
"It boils down to turnout," Eyman said. "If anything is a
true enemy of I-695 it's our people eating potato chips on election day and
don't turn out to vote."
Funk said the voters might have a different idea.
"We're going to send a good, clear message in the last six weeks of
the campaign that (I-695 supporters) are swinging at Olympia but the cuts
are going to hit close to home," Funk said.
