Originally posted by Mike C:
CWUgirl,
I'd have to disagree with you about the "conscience" statement. I know of several ballot levies I and many others have voted for in the past - school levies, 911 levies, library levies to name a few. So I do believe that voters will do the right thing when they know the money is going to be used for the right something worthwhile and needed. Lets keep it to angling - I would guess that most of us on this board would gladly pay our yearly fishing license knowing it would go toward fishing. But since it doesn't and instead it's wasted on so many pork barrel projects, most of us are very iritated instead. On the WL.com board it was brought up that a "trout stamp" might be a good idea to promote and improve trout lakes. And if that's where the money went it would be a good idea. But we all know that the money gets sloshed into the general fund to pay for someone's office upgrade.
My point is, I think people are willing to pay when they know the money is going to be used wisely and fairly.
Mike C, I picked out your post to respond to because in disagreeing with me, you have made my point in a way. I should start out by saying, I am a political scientist. (big surprise)
Your last line "I think people are willing to pay when they know the money is going to be used wisely and fairly," is my point. We live with a complex bureaucracy, that judgement call is impossible. We are fundamentally distrustful of politicians and encounter slow and ineffective bureaucracies almost on a daily basis that scream "YOUR MONEY IS NOT BEING USED EFFECTIVELY."
The basis for the people's lack of zeal for taxation is that people vote with their wallet in mind. Do any candidates run under the banner "I AM FOR RAISING TAXES!"? No, it would not be a wise decision in any campaign. It's naive to believe that citizens will vote to raise taxes, lets say, to go to the general fund. Since you can't apply your test- knowledge of wisely spent dollars- what are the people going to do? They are going to look at the bureaucrats and politicans in disgust and vote that sucker down!
It is the job of our representative government to make the tough decisions- taxation is not a popular issue. Take the proposed gas tax hike that Gov. Gary Locke was pushing last year. It went down in dramatic fashion in the legislature when the benefit to the people couldn't be proven. The cowards sent it to a vote so it could be defeated easily because they were too afraid to make the call that there might be a need for increasing taxes. (No, I don't think Locke's plan was sound, we already have the highest gas tax in the country).
I might have some faith in representative democracy, but as I said in my last paragraph of my original post, Tim Eyeman is aboslutely necessary in the State of Washington. I won't say our State suffers from incompetent leadership, but it has suffered through years of neglect and politicans who instead of making tough calls, chose to save their necks.
Be thankful guys, if you lived in some other states, you wouldn't have any right to get initiatives on the ballot at all.