Seattle: where a politician’s word means zero

“Oath” is defined as a solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one’s future action or behavior.

The Seattle City Council this afternoon passed an income tax ordinance. The vote, of course, was unanimous. We value diversity in Seattle – of everything but thought.

It proves that every member of the Seattle City Council is a liar who puts politics ahead of their word, their bond, and their ethics.

Because, you see every member of the council took an oath when they were sworn in. From the City website:

Councilmember and every other officer of the City and the head of every department, before entering upon the duties of his or her office, shall take and subscribe an oath or affirmation that he or she possesses all the qualifications prescribed for his or her office, by this Charter; that he or she will support the Constitution of the United States, and of the State of Washington

They swore they would uphold the Constitution of the State of Washington. And today, all nine members voted for a measure that is clearly in defiance of that Constitution.

According to Article VII, Section of Washington’s Constitution “all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only.”

What that means is that a graduated income tax in Washington is simply unconstitutional. If you tax “the wealthy,” then you must tax “the poor” at the exact same rate.

Our constitution is clear. Plus, the voters have been asked on ten occasions to weigh-in on an income tax. It has been rejected all ten times.

But that isn’t stopping the Seattle City Council from spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a legal fight that should prove futile.

I say “should” prove futile. They are hopeful that our ultra-liberal State Supreme Court will find a way to ignore the constitution and uphold this tax. If that happens, the floodgates will open and many cities in the state will be in a feeding frenzy to impose their income tax.

The honorable way to approach this issue would be to go through the Legislature and the voters to change the state constitution and approve an income tax. But they know that will never happen. So, instead, the nine council members: Lisa Herbold, Bruce Harrell, Kshama Sawant, Rob Johnson, Debora Juarez, Mike O’Brien, Sally Bagshaw, Tim Burgess, and Lorena Gonzales, today, proved that their word, their honor, and their integrity means nothing. They are nothing but a pack of liars who put politics above an oath they have sworn to the people.

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