Initiative 2111 (prohibiting fair taxation based on ability to pay) gets certified

The fifth of six sub­mit­ted ini­tia­tives to the 2024 Wash­ing­ton State Leg­is­la­ture spon­sored by Repub­li­can State Par­ty Chair Jim Walsh and fund­ed by right wing mul­ti­mil­lion­aire Bri­an Hey­wood was cer­ti­fied today, which means it is des­tined for the Novem­ber 2024 bal­lot for approval or rejec­tion by voters.

Although Wash­ing­ton State does not cur­rent­ly levy an income tax, Ini­tia­tive 2111 nev­er­the­less seeks to pro­hib­it the state and its local­i­ties from levy­ing one. It also attempts to sig­nif­i­cant­ly broad­en the def­i­n­i­tion of what an income tax is to lay the ground­work for future right wing legal chal­lenges to exist­ing state tax­es. That could jeop­ar­dize fund­ing for paid fam­i­ly and med­ical leave in Wash­ing­ton as well as edu­ca­tion and long-term care, mak­ing I‑2111 poten­tial­ly very destructive.

Accord­ing to the Sec­re­tary of State’s Elec­tions Divi­sion, 26,763 pages of sig­na­tures were received for I‑2081, con­tain­ing 448,158  lines.

324,516 valid sig­na­tures are cur­rent­ly required to qual­i­fy a statewide initiative.

Ini­tia­tive 2111 had a suf­fi­cient cush­ion of extra sig­na­tures to qual­i­fy for a ran­dom sam­ple check as allowed by state law, which con­sist­ed of 13,445 signatures.

Of those, 10,868 were accept­ed and 2,577 were reviewed. 2,566 sig­na­tures were deter­mined to be invalid, and eleven were deter­mined to be duplicate.

Sec­re­tary Hobbs today trans­mit­ted a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion mes­sage to the Leg­is­la­ture affixed with the state seal, advis­ing of I‑2111’s qualification.

Leg­isla­tive staff have giv­en I‑2111 its own bill-style page on leg.wa.gov.

The bal­lot title for I‑2111 is as follows:

Ini­tia­tive Mea­sure No. 2111 con­cerns taxes.

This mea­sure would pro­hib­it the state, coun­ties, cities, and oth­er local juris­dic­tions from impos­ing or col­lect­ing income tax­es, defined as hav­ing the same mean­ing as “gross income” in the Inter­nal Rev­enue Code.

Should this mea­sure be enact­ed into law? Yes [ ] No [ ]

The sum­ma­ry is as follows:

This mea­sure would pro­hib­it the state, coun­ties, cities, and oth­er local juris­dic­tions from impos­ing or col­lect­ing income tax­es, defined as hav­ing the same mean­ing as “gross income” in the Inter­nal Rev­enue Code.

The def­i­n­i­tion of gross income in fed­er­al law is found at 26 U.S. Code § 61:

(a) Gen­er­al definition

Except as oth­er­wise pro­vid­ed in this sub­ti­tle, gross income means all income from what­ev­er source derived, includ­ing (but not lim­it­ed to) the fol­low­ing items:

1. Com­pen­sa­tion for ser­vices, includ­ing fees, com­mis­sions, fringe ben­e­fits, and sim­i­lar items;
2. Gross income derived from business;
3. Gains derived from deal­ings in property;
4. Inter­est;
5. Rents;
6. Roy­al­ties;
7. Div­i­dends;
8. Annu­ities;
9. Income from life insur­ance and endow­ment contracts;
10. Pen­sions;
11. Income from dis­charge of indebtedness;
12. Dis­trib­u­tive share of part­ner­ship gross income;
13. Income in respect of a dece­dent; and
14. Income from an inter­est in an estate or trust.

(b) Cross references

For items specif­i­cal­ly includ­ed in gross income, see part II (sec. 71 and fol­low­ing). For items specif­i­cal­ly exclud­ed from gross income, see part III (sec. 101 and following).

Leg­is­la­tors have three choic­es as to how to respond to I‑2111:

• Do noth­ing, in which case it goes to voters
• Adopt the mea­sure into law
• Send it to the Novem­ber 2024 bal­lot with an alternative

NPI oppos­es Ini­tia­tive 2111 and is work­ing for the mea­sure’s defeat. If you’d like to help oppose I‑2111 and its brethren, you can donate to Stop Greed here.