Hello carbon tax friends: After many days of labor by our legal team and others, we are delighted to announce the birth of Initiative to the Legislature #732! Details below, but everyone is welcome to come say Hello today (Sunday) or tomorrow as we put together signature-gathering packets and then head down to the Mariners stadium to gather signatures before and/or after Opening Day. There are other opportunities coming up, too, including a get-petitions-in-the-mail option! Read the full post below or on our blog… hope to see you soon!
Ballot language
As described last week, our official ballot title (the 30-word summary that will appear on the ballot) is: Initiative Measure No. 732 concerns taxes. This measure would impose a carbon emission tax on certain fossil fuels and fossil-fuel-generated electricity, reduce the sales tax by one percentage point and increase a low-income exemption, and reduce certain manufacturing taxes. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes [ ] No [ ].
For more details see the plain language and annotated legal language on our website, or read the whole measure yourself. (For those of you who remember previous versions of the measure, the main difference in I-732 is that the carbon tax rate gradually increases at 3.5% plus inflation until it reaches a peak in about 40 years at $100 per ton CO2 in inflation-adjusted 2016 dollars; in previous versions the carbon tax rate increased at 5.5% (which is the same with 2% inflation) and didn’t peak at $100. Questions welcome on our blog, and thanks again to our legal team for their good work!
Volunteer opportunities in Seattle today (Sunday) or tomorrow
We’ve actually got the initiative petitions printed ahead of time (and under budget!) so it will take a few days to get everything organized and distributed… but if you’re in Seattle today or tomorrow and want to help us hit the ground running then there’s two opportunities:
- Today (Sunday April 5) I’ve come to help Duncan organizing materials at the office and I’ll be here until about 4pm, so if you’re free in the next hour or two come on down and say hello: 1914 N 34th St, Suite 407, near Gasworks Park. Please call or text before you come because, well, it is Sunday: I’m at 206-351-5719. (To gain access to the building use the buzzer system and if that doesn’t work call my cell phone.)
- Tomorrow (Monday April 6) please join us at the office (1914 N 34th St, Suite 407, near Gasworks Park) from 9:00-10:30am and/or join us on the bus to the Mariners stadium (or meet us there) to help test-run our signature-gathering effort on Opening Day! (See the Events list below for full trainings, this will just be a fun trial run.) As long as you have a cell phone you can text or call me (206-351-5719) to find out where we are, but we’ll plan to meet at 11:30am at the catcher’s mitt statue (near the NW corner of the stadium, 1st Ave S and S Royal Brougham Way) and then work together in groups to gather signatures until the game begins at 1:10pm! There’s also a Pyramid Alehouse and Restaurant right across the street, so we may head there for some lunch (and to watch the game!) and then do more test-run signature-gathering after the Mariners victory, which should mean signature-gathering in the 3:30-5:00pm timeframe. As always, call or text to confirm!
Petitions-by-mail
If you want some petitions so that you can begin collecting signatures, please email [email protected] with your address and phone number and he’ll work on getting you some petitions, either hand-delivered by our staff (about which more soon!) or via the mail. And if you really want to help out by self-funding your own petitions then make a donation of $7 and we’ll automatically use the address associated with your donation to send some petitions and other materials to you in the mail on Monday for Priority Mail delivery on Wednesday or Thursday!
Other upcoming events:
- Sat April 11 in Seattle: Signature gathering training / kick-off at Seattle University Unitarian Church. (Register here!)
- Th April 16 in Vancouver: Reception/fundraiser with Yoram and Duncan and local supporters, email [email protected] for details.
- Sun April 19 in Bellevue: Signature gathering training / kick-off at Bellevue Library. (Register here!)
- Details and other upcoming events here.
Readings
No readings this time, too much going on! But as always, comments are welcome on the blog, or via Facebook or Twitter.
Regards,
Yoram
April 5, 2015 at 6:50 pm
Yay!!! Glad to see this is happening. I’m out of town but will get petitions and gather signatures. Thanks for all your hard work, Yoram and everyone.
April 6, 2015 at 10:43 am
I applaud your efforts and agree that a carbon tax is a good tool to reduce emissions, but I have concerns that carbon taxes are ultimately regressive and will add to the existing regressive tax burden that WA taxpayers face.
What steps, if any, have you taken to make this carbon tax less regressive?
April 6, 2015 at 8:40 pm
Hi Noah, great question and we have a great answer: the sales tax reduction and Working Families Rebate will make our policy the biggest improvement to the progressivity of the Washington State tax system since the 1977 ballot measure that exempted groceries from the sales tax.
See details at http://carbonwa.org/carbon-taxes-are-even-better-than-you-think-part-iii-social-justice/.
April 6, 2015 at 9:39 pm
Thank you, the post and the calculator was very illuminating – I’m glad you are seriously addressing this issue! A local boost to the EITC looks like it would go a long way to making the WA tax share much more progressive.
April 6, 2015 at 12:04 pm
Hi Noah – My understanding is that this actually reduced the regressive Wa. State sales tax. Personally, I would prefer to call this a fee rather than a tax. There is a difference.
April 6, 2015 at 9:44 pm
Actually, it looks like the most significant benefit comes from a boost to the EITC. Unfortunately this doesn’t benefit childless households below the median as much as those with children, but neither does the EITC.
Regarding “fee” vs “tax” – there is no point in parsing; a tax is a tax – especially when it is expected to generate $1.7 billion in revenue.