Only the most narrow-minded Clark County resident would attempt to belittle or ignore what Ken Fisher has to say about our community. He’s more than just a Californian who is ranked by Forbes business magazine as the 252nd richest American with a net worth of $1.6 billion. Fisher also is the provider of precisely what Clark County needs most: high-paying, dependable and visionary jobs. So if he opposes a state income tax in Washington, his opinion matters.
Thanks to Fisher, 325 people have jobs in east Vancouver that pay between $75,000 and $200,000 annually. Also thanks to Fisher, a 150-acre, $30 million office complex is planned in Camas. A ceremony Tuesday marked the start of construction on the first of two five-story buildings in west Camas.
Fisher’s value to Clark County doesn’t stop there. We are competing against sites in Texas and Florida for the relocated headquarters of Fisher Investments, which currently employs 665 people in California, mostly in Woodside and San Mateo. As the CEO, Ken Fisher is fed up with California, where he says the business climate is “the most hostile in the country.” Among his aggravations is that state’s economy-stifling 9.3 percent income tax rate.
Last week The Columbian reported a comment Fisher made in an e-mail about our state’s Initiative 1098, which proposes a state income tax for high-income earners: “If 1098 gets within 5 percent of passing, there is no way under God’s little green apples Washington will ever be our corporate headquarters and likely (Camas) will never see another building.” That makes perfect sense to any rational observer.
Unfortunately and illogically, not everyone agrees with Fisher. Several letters to the editor and online comments have falsely branded Fisher as a meddling interloper whose views should be discounted. One critic protested the “steely-eyed Californian billionaire telling us how to vote.” Another called him arrogant and dismissed his “childish rant.” Another invited Fisher to move his headquarters to China. Well, we hope he moves his headquarters here. Our hope coincides seamlessly with our opposition to Initiative 1098, and we are not alone. Virtually every major newspaper in the state opposes I-1098. And if only the billionaires from Washington state matter, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and co-founder Paul Allen oppose a state income tax. So does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, plus leaders of Boeing Corp.
Their motivation is easily explained. Nick Wingfield recently reported in The Wall Street Journal that a Tax Foundation report “said Washington scored as the 11th best state in business tax climate as of July, but would have ranked 48th had the current measure (I-1098) been in effect.” Just as frightening is this reality: After two years, any initiative can be modified by the Legislature, so if you think this only affects rich folks, you’re ignoring what rumbles over the horizon: the zest of legi slators in our state for increasing taxes.
At Tuesday’s ceremony, Fisher declined to discuss I-1098. Encouragingly, though, he said: “We’re happy to be here. We like Camas a lot.” Fisher has made more than enough contributions to this place that local residents should at least listen to what he has to say about our state, our economy and our politics. But the greater point is that Fisher represents the views of many other job creators across the country who are considering moving to our state. Other CEOs will surely hear him, whether the ill-informed critics do or not.
