Initiative guru Tim Eyman’s arguments for a supermajority requirement for all legislatively enacted tax increases are well documented. He says it curbs wasteful spending, forces lawmakers to work across political aisles, and requires lawmakers to make a stronger case for revenues.
But the left-leaning Washington State Budget and Policy Center issued a sharply critical report Thursday that says Eyman’s initiative efforts have also cost the state 18,000 jobs including teachers and child-welfare advocates. Also, the report says, Initiative 1053 of 2010 has slowed the economic recovery from recession and kept the state from making investments in healthcare and education that support jobs and a strong economy.
“The supermajority law has made it nearly impossible for lawmakers to take a responsible and balanced approach to Washington’s ongoing economic problems. Instead, just a handful of lawmakers — those who are ideologically opposed to any tax increase for any purpose — have forced the majority to accept unnecessarily deep cuts to public health and education priorities in the last few years,” the report says.
The report, by fiscal analyst Andy Nicholas, comes a few months before voters are poised to weigh in on the two-thirds supermajority requirement yet again — this time in Initiative 1185, which Eyman is sponsoring.
