12:00 am
September 14, 2010
An editorial in Sunday's Columbian, urging voters to reject I-1098, talks about trust. The income tax proposal is written to apply to individuals making over $200,000 (and married couples making over $400,000); consequently, supporters are selling it as being a tax on the rich only.
But the Columbian isn't buying it:
Oh, but the measure also prohibits any increase in the new state income tax without a vote of the people, you say? Trust you? Sorry, but again, we just can’t. And even if we could, we cannot trust legislators to resist hiking the tax in years to come.
Indeed, in March, U.S. Congressman Tom Perriello (D-Va.) admitted as much (about Social Security and Medicare):
If there’s one thing I’ve learned up here and I didn’t really need to come up here to learn it, is the only way to get Congress to balance the budget is to give them no choice, and the only way to keep them out of the cookie jar is to give them no choice, which is why-– whether it’s balanced budget acts or pay as you go legislation or any of that–is the only thing. If you don’t tie our hands, we will keep stealing.
Instead of imposing a volatile income tax, let's focus on reform. As the Columbian argues:
Here’s the big payoff, according to I-1098 proponents: vast riches for cash-strapped K-12 education, college tuition, the Basic Health Plan and long-term care for seniors. But that flowery future ignores this fact: What our state needs is not more money but massive reform in how government services are delivered, plus stronger sacrifices by state employees who provide those services, sacrifices more in line with those made by private-sector workers.
Even Chicago's Mayor Daley gets it: "If anybody believes they can increase taxes today, I think they're out of their mind."
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