Tim Eyman files flurry of anti-tax initiatives with eyes toward 2022 ballot
Feb 17, 2022, 10:53 AM
I-976 sponsor Tim Eyman. (AP)
(AP)
Ballot initiatives from Tim Eyman have been a regular occurrence for years in Washington, and 2022 will likely keep with that trend.
The anti-tax activist has registered five separate proposals in hopes of making the 2022 ballot.
Eyman’s most recent attempt at a ballot measure came last year, which sought to invalidate Washington’s capital gains tax, and prevent the state — as well as individual cities — from imposing any future excise, income, or payroll taxes. It was registered as an “initiative to the Legislature,” which meant that gathering enough signatures before the end of the year would have put it in front of state lawmakers at the start of the 2022 session. If the Legislature did not pass it into law, it would have been put to voters in November.
It fell well short of its signature-gathering goals, with Eyman’s Permanent Offense PAC raising just $2,800 out of the $2.7 million he estimated he needed for the requisite 400,000 signatures.
In 2022, Eyman has five primary initiatives (some of which he filed in multiple versions) that he’s hoping to get on the November ballot.
Property taxes
This proposal would seek to reduce property taxes — by 25% in one version, and 33% under a second version — while mandating voter approval for any increase on annual property taxes exceeding 1%. It would also “eliminate personal property tax on items where sales or use tax was paid.”
Carbon taxes
Filed in four separate versions, this proposal would prohibit so-called “cap and tax” programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the state, county, and city level, effectively repealing portions of the Washington Climate Commitment Act passed in 2021.
All three iterations contain functionally identical descriptions, differing only on the specific Washington laws the initiative would repeal in order to achieve its desired outcome.
Income taxes
Similar to Eyman’s failed initiative in 2021, this would seek to prohibit any state or local income, payroll, or excise taxes, affording “no authority for the state to impose or collect taxes based on personal income.”
Out of 12 total versions registered by Eyman, one features language that broadly prohibits state-level taxes based on personal income, a second would specifically repeal the state’s recently-implemented capital gains tax without the larger prohibition, and others contain edits to the exact changes to existing laws it would entail.
Estate taxes
Filed in five versions, this initiative would prohibit estate taxes for anyone who dies on or after Dec. 8, 2022. Eyman’s wording frames it as means to save “family farms and ranches,” although it also applies more broadly to estate taxes on people across all industries and professions.
Tax increases
Spread out across four versions, this proposal would prohibit all state-level tax increases to expire after a year unless it garners majority approval from voters. It would also apply retroactively to “any tax increase enacted in 2022 without such approval.”
Eyman has until July 8 to gather roughly 324,000 signatures to get any of his proposed initiatives onto the 2022 ballot. That said, he remains in financial trouble with the state, after defaulting on a $5.4 million debt. That stems from a ruling in a lawsuit which found that Eyman had enacted a “scheme” to funnel kickbacks to himself through signature-gathering campaigns.
