Effort to create high-earners income tax finally gets airborne as Initiative 1098

Real progressive tax reform in Washington State is finally taking flight this evening with the launch of Initiative 1098, the official reincarnation of Initiative 1077, which was announced last month by William Gates Sr. and the Main Street Alliance.

The Initiative 1098 coalition had a kickoff party this evening on the north shores of Lake Union, in the building where the campaign will be run from, to celebrate the availability of petitions and affirm that the measure is going forward.

I attended the party, and was impressed by the energy and enthusasim I saw. Rarely have I seen progressives so eager to collect signatures for ballot measure. Must be the pent-up frustration many progressives feel after years and years of inaction and dithering in Olympia, which has left us with a horribly regressive and utterly broken tax structure.

The limited batch of petitions that was printed before the party was seemingly gone in a flash; many activists left with fewer petitions than they hoped to pick up. (More are being printed, and will be available in the coming days).

For those not familiar with the initiative, I-1098 would establish a high-earners income tax on individuals who make more than $200,000 a year ($400,000 for couples). Business and occupation taxes would be eliminated for eighty percent of small businesses, and the state property tax levy would be lowered by twenty percent.

The estimated one billion dollars left over after these offsets would be dedicated to public schools and healthcare coverage.

The genius of I-1098 is that it isn't a hodgepodge of half-measures. It's a carefully drafted, thoughtfully construed proposal to strengthen our common wealth and attack the regressivity of our tax structure. It lowers taxes for small businesses and homeowners while increasing funding for our most important public services.

It's real progressive tax reform.

NPI is proud to support and endorse Initiative 1098. We strongly and emphatically encourage readers to not only sign I-1098, but help gather signatures for it. The Constitution only gives us until July 2nd, 2010 to gather 241,153 valid signatures. Time is short... we have six weeks to make this happen.

To obtain petitions, please contact the campaign.