Some ideas for thinking outside the box

After reading the editorial in the Sounder’s Jan. 21 edition, “Time to Think Outside the Box,” it got me thinking. What are some of the ways we could think outside the sandbox while still playing in it?

After reading the editorial in the Sounder’s Jan. 21 edition, “Time to Think Outside the Box,” it got me thinking. What are some of the ways we could think outside the sandbox while still playing in it?

For years, I’ve been amazed that nobody challenged Tim Eyman’s initiatives with counter-initiatives. I’m referring to I-695, the “$30 auto tabs fees” initiative, and I-776, its successor, that people unwittingly voted into law. Graduated tabs fees made sure that if you drove a 2009 Porsche Carrera GT valued at over $400K, you were going to pay more than someone who drove a 1966 VW bug. Seems fair to me! Doing the math….everyone pays $30. The money that is NOT going to the state has to come from someplace else now. Like education. Like ferries. No wonder the math doesn’t add up.

We all know the cost that Mr. Eyman’s auto tabs and tax cut initiatives have wreaked on education, health care, transportation, social programs, and state ferries. Ultimately, the only benefit that came from those initiatives was for the very rich, who got yet another tax break. Tim Eyman is famous for initiatives like these. They “seem good” on paper. He has a new one that caps how much money can go into the state general funds. He is calling it the “Lower Property Taxes Initiative” – but who is it for? Not for most of us.

All that is needed to overturn I-695 and I-776 is to write a decent enough initiative that will make sense to the voters so that they will (hopefully!) think through to the big picture, and then vote for what is going to help the big picture. Reintroducing graduated license tabs with a cap on the top amount paid is just one idea for an initiative that might pass and hopefully overturn I-695.

The fee is only $5 to file an initiative or referendum. Signatures need to be gathered on petitions; around 240,000 plus a margin for errors or duplicate signatures. Petitions are due by July 3 to get an initiative or referendum onto the ballot. This is do-able! I plan to do it. It would be great to have some help doing it.

I have more ideas for initiatives. How about this: whoever lives in Washington six plus months per year pays for auto tabs, no matter what other state their vehicle is registered. I’m working on ideas for a fair and equitable property tax initiative to benefit working families with only one home.

People coming together still have the power to effect change at a grass roots level; that was proved in November’s elections.

Sadie Salim Bailey is an Orcas Island resident.