‘It’s confusing by nature’: Jake, Spike back lawsuit over misleading language on WA’s income tax repeal

A Let’s Go Washington initiative to repeal the millionaire’s income tax will be featured on the November ballot, but a lawsuit was filed in Thurston County court over the confusing language Attorney General Nick Brown chose to place before voters.

Jake Skorheim and Spike O’Neill, co-hosts of “The Jake and Spike Show” on KIRO Newsradio, analyzed the confusing language included on the ballot.

“A lot of folks are going to read the description of what the initiative’s about, and they might seek out what the attorney general has said describes the initiative,” Jake said. “They’re limited in space; they only have a few short words to get the point across of what they believe the initiative does for the voter, 21 words. Tell me if you think that it’s a fair assessment of what the ballot initiative does.”

The verbiage describing the initiative to repeal the income tax reads:

“This measure would decrease funding for public K-12 education, higher education (including universities and community colleges), and human services (primarily healthcare).”

Jake wonders how an average voter might interpret the language

Jake asked Spike how he’d think voters would view the question if it were posed without any background.

“If you saw that on your ballot, and you’re not somebody who follows the news as closely as maybe our audience does, and you’re reading this, what would be your takeaway going to be about the initiative?” Jake asked.

“Well, I’m not for underfunding education or, of course, healthcare,” Spike said. “Of course, I’m going to vote against that, but the legal challenges they’re making claims that it’s confusing. They’re challenging that it’s making claims that they feel aren’t valid. That they can’t guarantee this.”

Spike came around to the idea that the challenge could hold up

Spike believes that the lawsuit does have merit in court, noting that the way the question is presented is “confusing by nature.”

“My question to the audience is: Does the lawsuit now filed in Superior Court, does it have merit?” Jake asked. “Will it be reviewed and will they get a favorable ruling that says, ‘Yeah, you’re right, that’s very misleading’?”

“They’ve got a better case than I thought they had when I first heard about this story,” Spike said. “With the lawsuit coming forth, and it’s the second lawsuit, by the way, asking about the questionable language in the referendum. We said a couple weeks ago, it’s confusing by nature. No means yes for a millionaire’s tax, and yes means no.”

“If we’re gonna have a judge rewrite the referendum, ‘Are you for a millionaire’s tax? Yes or no.’ Easy question. If you vote no, the repeal goes forward.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to “The Jake and Spike Show” weekdays from noon to 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio 97.3