Certainly the ABSENCE of state income taxes has had a real impact on my life in Washington:

a) I moved here to take a job with Microsoft, which Gates & Co. did NOT found in WA, but rather moved here from New Mexico. Beyond being Bill's home, I understand that the absence of a state income tax actually won Washington State a large prize for the past 30 years.

b) We regularly recruit and hire employees from out-of-state, and bring them here to stable, high-paying positions. The lack of state income taxes lets me offer comparable salaries to them as they are paid by my out-of-state competitors, and for the employees it's like getting a raise...

I'm very mixed on this legislation.

Interesting how so many people in this state think not having an income tax somehow makes their tax burden less. Wake up folks, many states with an income tax actually give their citizens a tax burden less then that of Washington.

http://www.retirementliving.com/tax_burden_2008.pdf

Personally, I think creating tax policy through intiative is very poor. But, the failure of the Legislature and the Governor to make the tough political decisions to re-vamp the tax structure is even worse.

The state isn't over spending. We all know the state has to balance the budget and it is being done through short term fixes, such as cuts and targeted tax increases that don't hurt too bad politically. What the state isn't doing is dealing with the long term consequences of this recession.

By the way, special interest money is only money that isn't being spent on your interest.

Cool. Everybody should pay their fair share. Nothing more, nothing less. Let's get rid of the sales tax and just send everybody an equal bill for the government cost.

Actually, that's not fair. The poor use government services way more than the rich. When is the last time you've seen a millionaire on welfare, food stamps or even riding the bus?

You mean like no-bid contracts, federal subsidies, free State Patrol security details*, and "tax incentives??"

Ever bother to look up the costs of mass-transit, welfare, food stamps, & subsidised housing as opposed to kick-backs, contracts, and tax shelters?

Didn't fuggin think so.

A simple Google Search and 2 seconds with a calculator might shatter your entire stupid-ass world view.

Dumb schit.

Then again, if you weren't a complete retard, you wouldn't have posted anything as stupid as you just did, so I shouldn't even bother.







*Damn skippy! WA's corporate elite get State Troopers as permanent personal body guards courtesy of the average taxpayer.

Oregon has a state income tax. A little story about how that can work out. My wife was living in Portland when we were engaged. She had been quite sick that year and as a result she had lost her job. Because she wasn't feeling well she took a lower paying job at the location her cousing worked. They were both about 22 years old at the time and making a whopping $5.00 an hour. Her cousin had a 5 year old child from a teenage pregnancy . At the end of the year my wife had made just under $11,000 thousand. She ended up paying about $2000 in state taxes, social security and such leaving her a net of about $9000. Her cousin recieved a earned income tax from the state and from the Feds In addition, she was getting free daycare for her child which was running about $600 a month, food stamps of about $300 a month, and Section 8 free housing. At the time I figured out that her income, if you count the benefits, was about $32,000. Almost 3.5 times what my wife's income had been.

Any state income tax will eventually become full of exemptions, benefits and loop holes. As regressive as a state sales tax is, at least most of us can not get around not paying it. My gut feeling is that the second we get an income tax, we will see corporate exemptions, earned income credits, and thousands of other loop holes and exemptions. Those of us in the middle class will end up paying much more and spend more money to accountants for the priveledge to do so.

Just a Stinky Little FYI on that particular Initiative Signature gathering . . . . . . .

"More corruption in good old Washington - State. By a good old union boss. Strange. I never heard a word about this fraud, did you? Washington is home of dishonest Democrats, and proud of it. The further down you read, the worse it gets.

Subject: INIT{WA}: The I-1098 Signature-Fraud Case: And the Name is --?

I have written several comments about *gathering signatures* on petitions - I find that a waste of time in most ALL cases.

The situation with *initiatives* is a little different in that most of the time the state initiatives are placed before the voters to be voted on . If they get the most votes they become law. However, in Washington State, there is a short time frame in which the legislature can GUT the initiative and that has happened several times - to the conservative initiatives - never to the leftist initiatives.... especially since the Far Left loonies have controlled Olympia which has been many years now.

Let me remind WGEN readers in Washington State of the $30.00 license tab fiasco. Remember Gary Locke saying he would guarantee they would never be higher than $30.00? What are you folks paying today?

Plain and simple - if the voters would CEASE to elect non-constitutional promoting people into office we could then begin the needed act of REPEALING all the unconstitutional legislation that has been passed. We don't need to "reduce spending - reduce taxes". We need to eliminate spending and taxes via repealing all those pieces of legislation (I won't call them *laws*) that have caused the phoney 'need' to spend and increase taxes. If we had candidates who would run on the promise of not passing any new legislation of any kind until all the unconstitutional legislation has been repealed the taxes and spending would go DOWN because there would be no need to feed that LIE that we need all those fraudulent agencies, personnel, CZARS, foreign aid - subsidies, and on and on. If we REPEAL the blood sucking parasites it is an automatic increase in the betterment of the tax paying American citizen. Not only would the COST of government drop like a rock but those restrictions placed on our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS would be gone.

I hope readers would begin to think of REPEAL rather than NEW Legislation. Why add more to the mix - why not burn off the bad material that has caused this mess? Go to the ROOT - stop chopping at the fingertips and split ends. Why are so many so afraid to do what is right?

Jackie Juntti
WGEN idzrus@earthlink.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The I-1098 Signature-Fraud Case: And the Name is --?

The Worst-Kept Secret in Olympia – A Witness Tells All

Elections workers process initiative petitions at the state elections office.

By Erik Smith, Washington State Wire, Friday, August 6, 2010

http://www.washingtonstatewire.com/home/4504-the_i_1098_signature_fraud_case_and_the_name_is.htm

OLYMPIA, Aug. 6.­Last month’s signature-fraud scandal in the campaign for Initiative 1098 – this year’s income-tax initiative – might be a dead issue by now if it wasn’t for one thing.

Until this point, no one has named the name. At least, not officially.

The name of the Service Employees International Union official who is thought to have forged 349 names on election petitions has been whispered all over this capital city, but it hasn’t been released in a formal way. Officials of the secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections, provided the name to the I-1098 campaign shortly after the questionable signatures were discovered, when election officials were still reeling in shock. The campaign and its leading supporter, SEIU, chose to disclose that the woman was a union official. But who was it? There’s been a cone of silence at the Capitol ever since. Attorneys decided the release of the name might get the state in hot water.

The state is under a court order not to release initiative petitions to the public, because of an unrelated lawsuit filed by backers of last year’s anti-gay-rights measure, Referendum 71. And attorneys for the elections office decided that applied to any information on those petitions – including the name of the woman who is now under investigation by the Washington State Patrol.

Yet there were plenty of witnesses to the discovery – at least 30 signature checkers were going over the petition sheets when the name was discovered. They all knew the name. There were others in the room at the time as well. They heard it, too.

And a public records act request has led Washington State Wire to an email that identifies the name – and a witness unconnected with the secretary of state’s office who saw the whole thing.

And the name is – ?

Well, let’s let the man tell his story.

Meet Eddie Spaghetti

Edward Agazarm, best known as ‘Eddie Spaghetti,’ is one of those players in Washington state politics who seldom shows up in a headline, but who has a great influence on the process. Spaghetti – everybody calls him that, he says – is one of the founders of Citizen Solutions, a firm that runs paid signature drives for ballot-measure campaigns. Since 2001 his company has collected millions of signatures.

This year his crews hit the streets for three initiatives – I-1053, the measure that requires a two-thirds vote of the Legislature for taxes; I-1082, the measure that would allow private insurance companies to compete with the state worker-compensation system; and I-1100, which would junk the state liquor stores and allow retailers to buy alcoholic beverages directly from manufacturers.

Spaghetti was at the elections office July 13, as election officials were finishing their random check of signatures for I-1082 and getting started on the next one – I-1098. Initiative Supervisor Teresa Glidden passed out big stacks of petitions and told the signature checkers to get to work.

And it didn’t take them long to find the problem.

Said Spaghetti, “Teresa just plopped this stack of petitions on my desk and said, ‘Look at this!’ I looked at ‘em, and I could not believe it.”

The signatures were all in the same hand, with the same pen. And there was something else he noticed. The sheets were neat – not rumpled, not folded, not torn. No petition looks like that when it comes back from the field.

He looked on the back, where the petitions are signed by the signature gatherers. Looked like the same handwriting.

Said Spaghetti, “All of them were signed by Claudia McKinney.”

Goes Straight to Google

Spaghetti said he watched in amazement as the signature checkers were told to look for any other sheets signed by McKinney. They also started looking at every petition sheet to see if there were any other tell-tale signs of fraud. Spaghetti said he had never seen such a thing – at least nothing as obvious as that. If anyone at the I-1098 campaign had looked at the petition sheets before they turned them in, he said they would have spotted them in an instant.

Emails that circulated within the secretary of state’s office back up the story. Election officials eventually found 20 of the woman’s petition sheets. Some of the signatures were legit, others not. Ultimately they say they found 349 signatures they believe to be fraudulent. Signature fraud is a Class C felony under Washington state law, punishable by up to five years in prison, a $10,000 fine, or both.

In a July 13 email, assistant state elections director Shane Hamlin said, “Teresa called me immediately after discovering these suspicious petitions. She said the handwriting looks like the same handwriting of the person who signed the petition gatherer declarations. She also reports that the names appear to have come ‘right out of the phone book.’”

The gang down at the elections office got an even bigger surprise when they went to the Internet and looked up her name. Elections director Nick Handy wrote to Secretary of State Sam Reed: “Googling [name withheld] shows a fairly prominent union official with SEIU, the Service Employees International Union.”

Who is Claudia McKinney?

Here’s what they found:

A June 7 blog posting on the SEIU Local 775 website that identified McKinney as a member of the state home-care worker bargaining team.

An April 14 blog posting on the same site that identified McKinney as a member of a Local 775 team that went to Missouri to organize home care workers in that state.

The June 7 blog posting has been altered since the fraud investigation was launched. McKinney’s name is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, the April 14 posting no longer can be accessed from the union’s main page, but it can be reached from the direct link above.

Spaghetti saved a copy of the original blog posts and appended them to an email he sent to Reed. So the original version is part of the official record.

A Voter-Registration Violation?

McKinney is hard to reach. There are two listings for that name in Internet phone-directory records, both of them for apartments in the Sea-Tac area. But the phone is disconnected for one and there is no telephone listing for the other.

Ever since the story started getting around, there have been plenty of people interested in reaching McKinney. Among them is the King County elections department. That’s because there may be another crime involved.

One of the surest ways to locate a person is with voter-registration records. The law requires that a voter provide a birthday -- McKinney is 52 -- and a physical address. The address ensures the registrant votes in the correct district. Voters can provide a separate mailing address, but they have to swear they’re telling the truth about their residence, under penalty of law.

Voter registration records show that McKinney gave the address of an EZ Check Cash outlet just south of Sea-Tac International Airport at 19019 International Boulevard, also known as Highway 99. She listed her address as No. 267 – but it’s a post office box, not an apartment.

Kim van Ekstrom, spokeswoman for the King County elections department, said her office received a number of inquiries about McKinney’s voter registration after the signature fraud investigation was launched in Olympia. Strangely, she said, none of the calls have come from the news media.

Now her office wants to talk to McKinney, too. “We’ve tried to contact her to request a change of address but we have not been able to reach her,” she said.

Failure to provide a correct physical address for voter registration purposes is a Class C felony with penalties just as stiff as for initiative signature fraud. But in practice the crime is rarely punished. All King County wants is an updated card.

Voter registration records indicate there are 33 other voters living at the same address.

An Enormous Embarrassment

The affair has been an enormous embarrassment for SEIU, which has vowed sanctions against anyone involved in signature fraud – perhaps even revoking union membership. The union paid $345,000 to help get the income-tax measure on the ballot, and provided a legion of signature gatherers who circulated petitions for free. That augmented the paid drive the campaign ran at the same time. One persistent element of the rumor sweeping Olympia has been that SEIU was running a signature-gathering contest, and the signature-fraud suspect may have been working to win an all-expense-paid lobbying trip to Washington, D.C.

That part of the story appears not to be true. Although blog postings demonstrate that there was a signature gathering contest, and there was a winner – SEIU member Noel Bain – it appears that the contest was run by Local 925, not McKinney’s Local 775. The blog said he won with only 300 signatures, and clearly that wouldn’t have given him the top score if all union members were involved. Local 925 officials have since said that there was no winner, and blog postings referring to the contest have been deleted.

In an email message, Local 775 vice president Adam Glickman betrayed what may have been a bit of weariness with the story. Glickman said, “WE DID NOT HAVE A CONTEST FOR SIGNATURE GATHERING. PERIOD. ANOTHER LOCAL UNION DID. NOBODY WON. STORY OVER. We will look at pursuing sanctions if the person is found guilty of fraud.”

It’s a matter the campaign has to take seriously, of course, said I-1098 spokesman Sandeep Kaushik. But it appears the problem was a lone volunteer out of hundreds who worked on the campaign, involving just 350 signatures out of 385,000. “We don’t want this in any way to detract from the good and tireless work people did to get this on the ballot this fall.”

Spaghetti Blames SEIU

Spaghetti says the campaign isn’t an innocent victim. Somebody should have looked at those petition sheets. That’s what the pros do.

Spaghetti sent an email to Reed right after the signatures were discovered – and on this one, McKinney’s name wasn’t blacked out. Paid signature gatherers get a bad rap, he said, and he wanted to make sure everyone understood McKinney was a volunteer.

“As you know, I have been before our legislative committees nearly every year and testified that the greatest risk of such crimes comes from the overzealous volunteer, not the paid professional,” he wrote. “The instant case certainly bears this out. Claudia McKinney is NOT A PAID PROFESSIONAL.”

After Spaghetti got home the day the signatures were discovered, he said he went straight to his computer. He wanted to make sure McKinney hadn’t gathered any signatures for him. He was relieved to find out she wasn’t in the database.

“I think SEIU didn’t do right by her,” he said. “Her life is going to be ruined now. Chances are she’s going to get convicted, she’s going to have a criminal record. She’s not a young woman. She was let down. They should have caught it.”"

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm, kinda reminds me again of Chicago

I-1098 sets the "rich" level at 200k. Not quite what I'd consider rich.

first, i'm opposed to signature fraud, and i'm even more opposed to paid signature gatherers who work on both sides of the aisle. the fact that there are companies out there whose sole purpose is to get initiatives on the ballot makes me a bit sad.

but your post seems to be more about attacking a republican "enemy" than about fraud. you're talking about less than 400 signatures by one person, but using it to attack labor unions.

my opinion, this is another breitbart / fox style BS story like acorn, black panthers, and sherrod.

attacking unions about initiatives is missing the true problem... the fact that the initiative process has been used and abused to attempt to destroy the state government and the essential services it provides by legislating poorly from the ballot... and it's only going to get worse due to the recent activist supreme court ruling on corporate spending in elections.

it also shows that the debate has shifted from actually discussing the issue of income taxes to issues totally unrelated. too bad.

Link to update on polls for the thing and who is financing it. It appears Bill Sr put up 500K as some other well healed AND the state employee labor unions and others which should not surprise anyone.

Oh yes dead even with 18% undecided.

http://www.washingtonstatewire.com/home/...er_for_2012.htm

I don't see taxing the rich like that actually raising much money, unless there are a lot more rich people in this state than I think. The way this will raise boucoup revenue is after two years the legislature can tinker with it, and apply the income tax to any income class or all of us, while leaving the sales tax at its present rate. I'm OK with a state income tax if there's no sales tax, or maybe a balance between the two, but I do fear having both a high sales tax and high income tax.

Sg

no vote.

Link to the wire service feed and OFM's info of the financial impacts of the initiatives out there. The income tax thing has more revenue attached than pro side says / anti nothing new.

What I did not know was that WA had a about a 50% tax of the cost in booze... did not see that coming.

http://www.washingtonstatewire.com/home/..._management.htm

Update time. Two links but the one about PT's thought is interesting but both are entertaining.....sorta............

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/219438.asp?from=blog_last3

http://www.washingtonstatewire.com/home/...say_experts.htm

They just raised taxes and still they expect anywhere from 2-3 billion shortfall depending on who you talk to. California has one of the largest economies on the planet, both state and sales tax and they have about a 20 billion dollar shortfall. Federal spending has only narrowed the gap on Pauls end. Peter is bankrupt. Bill Gates and the other whales have already said they will donate up to 90% of their wealth. So really the only guys left to pay it, are some doctors lawyers and business owners or investors. Ironic that the rich never seem to donate extra money to the government.

There was a recent article about suggestions of expenses or changes to help balance the WA budget. One guy brought up the idea that the million dollars boats and planes should have a lower tax burden because the owners already keep them out of state due to high taxes. Since the boat or plane is kept out of state, Washington also loses the jobs and revenue to keep that property running. The luxury tax passed by congress in the 90' was repealed a short time later after the luxury boats manufactures lost business and began to lay people off. Its a win win for lawmakers. Add taxes and then collect campaign contributions in order to secure more tax deductions. Ive read some of the various deductions provided by various congressman and the dems are just as fond of taking care of big Business and contributors as the other party.

Anybody know if the persons involved in the million dollar screw up on highway 16 at Tacoma has been fired? Last year 77 million went to pay for land for the stilly tribe to oversee. They cant sell it, but there is a lot of land for sale and the taxpayers cant afford it. Seems to be plenty of road work going on, especially the concrete section resurface work, where pins are installed in the section joints. The grout used is wearing away and the concrete is still cracking and giving a rough ride after a period of time.