Opinion - Top opinion

POSTED: Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

County labor and business leaders against initiative

Business and labor often differ in their views of referendums and initiatives. Resultant laws usually better the situation of one, sometimes at the expense of the other.

However, as the two of us discussed Initiative 1033, we realized that Tim Eyman has succeeded in bringing business and labor together, recognizing that this is bad for everyone. Washington can ill afford this radical change in how we fund the public underpinnings of our economy, particularly at this moment when we are at a multi-generational low point in revenues. Should I-1033 pass, we would needlessly lock ourselves into a recession for many years to come.

Washington state has a long history of being favorable to the interests of both business and labor. We have the highest minimum wage in the country, yet are also considered - according to a Forbes Magazine analysis - to have the second-best business climate in the country.

We have an outstanding education system. Our community colleges provide responsive training grounds to meet the needs of both business and labor to meet a rapidly-changing marketplace, providing businesses opportunities to respond rapidly to changing competitive conditions, while providing workers who create the products and services at those businesses the opportunity to further their careers and increase their wages and benefits in the process. Our universities are a potent breeding grounds for new ideas; ideas for new products, ideas for better management, ideas to better us as a state and society.

Government is also important for the tangibles it provides; goods which are critical to supporting the jobs and businesses, which in turn provide the backbone of funding for every level of government and every family in this state.

Our transportation networks are critical to our position as the most trade-dependent state in the country, with nearly one-third of Washington state jobs directly or indirectly the result of international trade. Critical infrastructure includes not only our interstate highways and railroads, but also the city and county arterials which move goods the first and last miles of their journey to market. Without the appropriate resources to maintain these essential systems, we will lose jobs, businesses and our tax base.

When Colorado passed their similar TABOR law, transportation infrastructure suffered, as did the education system. As a consequence, while neighboring states were seeing job growth averaging 9.3 percent between 2001 and the beginning of 2006, Colorado saw only an anemic 0.2 percent growth in jobs, more than seven percentage points lower than the next lowest neighbor. By contrast, during the 12 years before TABOR was enacted, Colorado and its neighbors shared the same annual rate of growth.

Labor and Business are also both concerned with access to health care and quality K-12 education. While we may not agree on a solution, we both agree that I-1033 adds to the problem. Again, looking to the Colorado experience, we can see that after TABOR, Colorado dropped from 23rd in the nation in terms of some key metrics such as access and adequacy of prenatal care, to 48th. In education, Colorado funding dropped by 31 percent, adjusted for inflation in the decade following passage of TABOR.

The bottom line on I-1033 is that it winds up being an inappropriate wealth transfer scheme which takes retail sales taxes paid by all of us and redistributes them to property owners.

Simply put, this is bad policy, regardless of intent: it further imbalances our tax structure by reducing the percent of the budget supported through property taxes, and increasing the proportions paid by Business & Occupation taxes, Real Estate Excise Taxes, and retail sales taxes. It reduces the ability of local governments to develop local solutions and responses to local interests and needs. Why should voters in Yakima and Spokane and Vancouver and Seattle tell us how to manage our Whatcom County communities?

Additionally, out of simple fairness, any tax cuts ought to go to all the people paying those taxes, not just to property owners.

Like many Tim Eyman initiatives, I-1033 is poorly written, and serves Eyman's interests in his own ongoing income ahead of the greater needs of our communities and state to responsibly manage our communities for the benefit of all of us. Please join us in rejecting Initiative 1033.

Ken Oplinger is president and CEO of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce & Industry. David Warren is president of the NW Washington Central Labor Council.