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COMMENTARY May 22, 2003 Contact: Carl Gipson, Deputy
Communications Director DOT confirms gas tax around for 35 years, not ten The new "temporary" five-cent per gallon gas tax increase recently passed by legislators will not be lifted in ten years as promised—a fact confirmed by Department of Transportation Financial Planning Manager Amy Arnis at a meeting of the Washington State Transportation Commission today. Instead, it will remain in place until debt incurred by the sale of bonds is paid off over the next 35 years—twenty-five years after targeted transportation projects are completed. Commissioners were surprised. EFF wasn’t. Spokesman Review: That 10-year tax on gas? It'll be more like 35 years Click here to see our prior publications on this issue.
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1 Part Honesty; 2 Parts Arrogance At a March 23, 2005, House Appropriations hearing on a bill to gut the voter-approved I-601 spending limit, Rep. Jim McIntire (D) asked a supporter of I-601’s two-third supermajority requirement for the legislature to raise taxes the following question: "Can you name a time when we [legislators] have actually not just set it [supermajority requirement] aside by majority vote? I mean, this is in many respects a procedural motion that has no bearing. It’s a statutory constraint that cannot constrain any legislature that chooses as a majority to set it aside . . . have we ever used a supermajority [to raise taxes]?" - Rep. Jim McIntire (D - 46) Despite the arrogance of some state officials, Washington's constitution is clear: "All political power is inherent in the people..." |
