We worked really hard, we fell short, we’re just gonna have to work even harder next time

Even so, look at the bright side:  just the threat of I-1325 and its’ signature drive was incredibly effective at deterring the Legislature from raising taxes this year.

        First and foremost:   thank you very much for your hard work and support.  By working together, we’ve achieved many extraordinary successes over the years:  substantially lowering car tab taxes (remember how high they used to be?), limiting property tax increases, requiring performance audits of state & local governments, and imposing higher hurdles for tax hikes (requiring a 2/3 vote of the Legislature or majority vote of the people).  Our initiatives have saved taxpayers $26.06 billion (through 2013) and our various 2/3 “tougher-to-raise-taxes” initiatives (in 2007, 2010, and 2012) have prevented billions more in higher taxes.

         We worked really hard, but our signature drive for the 2/3-For-Taxes Constitutional Amendment fell short this year.  We worked really hard because we want to give the voters the chance to permanently protect themselves from higher taxes with a 2/3-for-taxes constitutional amendment.  The polling shows it’ll pass overwhelmingly.  5 ballot box victories prove that almost 2/3 of voters support the 2/3 making it tougher to raise taxes.  Only the crazies in Seattle want it to be easy for politicians to take more of the people’s money.   

          Over the past 16 years, we’ve gotten 15 initiatives on the ballot (voters passed 10 of them).  But despite this amazing track record of success, qualifying an initiative for the ballot is brutally difficult.  We fell short this time – we’ll just have to work even harder next time.  The key to our 16 years of success has been our persistence (“Energy and persistence conquer all things.” Benjamin Franklin). 

            And look at the bright side:  just the threat of I-1325 and its’ signature drive was incredibly effective at deterring the Legislature from raising taxes this year.  As we reported on Monday, the Attorney General has determined that the 2014 Legislature imposed just 2 relatively small tax increases.  That means there will be 2 measures on the November ballot:  Advisory Vote #8 and Advisory Vote #9.

          Olympia is filled with powerful special interests that constantly push legislators to impose tax hikes.  But our efforts with our initiatives – and the voters’ overwhelming approval of them – make it much harder for politicians to raise taxes.