Opinion: Election prep – Vote ‘Yes’ on the initiatives

Nancy Churchill urges voters to vote ‘Yes’ on the four initiatives in the Nov. 5 Washington state general election ballot.

Nancy Churchill makes the case for ‘Yes’ votes on the four initiatives on the Nov. 5 general election ballot in Washington

Nancy Churchill
Dangerous Rhetoric

In this installment of the Election Prep series, we’re going to discuss the four initiatives you will see at the top of your ballot. Initiatives are so important, they will be the first thing you will be asked to vote on.

Ballots will be sent on Friday, Oct. 18 and you’ll have until Nov. 5 to vote, but I urge you to vote as soon as your ballot arrives. Vote early, and return your ballot as soon as possible to one of the secure ballot drop boxes located around the county. If at all possible, avoid the U.S. Mail, just to reduce the possibility that your ballot might get lost somewhere in transit.

Legislator for a Day!

The first initiative is an initiative to the people. The other three initiatives are initiatives to the legislature. In both cases, the process allows Washington voters to have a direct influence on the state’s laws, but an Initiative to the People bypasses the legislature entirely, while an Initiative to the Legislature gives lawmakers a chance to act before it potentially goes to the voters.

All of these initiatives roll back radical progressive policies that the majority Democratic Party imposed on the state. The result of all of these policies has been to increase taxes and inflation in a way that impacts the working class the most. When you vote “yes” on these initiatives, you’re voting to reduce taxation and increase choice.

Mark Twain once said “Half a truth is the most cowardly of lies.” As you review the voter’s guide, keep in mind the arguments against the initiatives contain many half truths, cleverly written and focus group-tested to persuade you to vote against your self-interest. Let’s take a look at each initiative so you’re not deceived by half-truths.

Initiative 2066 – Vote “Yes” to protect energy choice

“At 2 in the morning on the second to last day of session, Jay Inslee was twisting the arms of legislators to get them to pass HB 1589: a planning bill that would give Puget Sound Energy the power to refuse natural gas service to customers and the authority to mandate that homes and businesses retrofit their buildings to electric…more than 1.3 million homes and more than a third of manufacturers in the state rely on natural gas.

“It would cost each individual home or business owner anywhere from $40,000-$70,000 to retrofit their building to electric, and based on the fact that 40% of PSE customers already require assistance on their bills, it’s not likely that most people would be able to afford that unnecessary cost.” Forcing people off a reliable and affordable energy source to meet an arbitrary goal set by legislators clearly puts implementing progressive policy over meeting the needs of the people.

Vote yes on 2066 to protect the right to choose reliable, affordable natural gas for heating, cooking, and manufacturing.

Initiative 2109 – Vote “Yes” to repeal the capital gains tax.

In 2021, the Washington State legislature enacted the additional 7% tax on small businesses and innovators. The backdoor income tax applies to sales on capital gains over $250,000 and is a direct attack on small businesses, innovators, successful residents and tech industry workers and small businesses.

Once a new tax is enacted, the Democrats move the goalposts. “Just this year, the majority party Democrats authored a bill that would have LOWERED the threshold for capital gains income taxes to $15,000 instead of only applying to sales of $250,000.” If the progressive political message is that this tax only applies to “the rich,” then it’s only a matter of time before it’s applied to everyone.

Senator Jamie Pedersen, a Democrat leader in the Legislature, has made it clear that he and his colleagues plan to use the capital gains tax as a way to implement an income tax for ALL Washingtonians in spite of the fact that Washington voters have consistently voted against an income tax. And, once this law went into effect, Jeff Bezos fled the state to avoid it. “The rich” can move, so the threshold will continue to be lowered.

Taxation is theft. Vote “Yes” on 2109 to repeal this unfair and unconstitutional income tax.

Initiative 2117 – Vote “Yes” to repeal the regressive carbon tax

In my opinion, the carbon tax is a huge scam. This tax does nothing to actually reduce carbon emissions and it does nothing to protect the environment, but it does provide a fancy way to turn carbon emissions into something that can be taxed. The Climate Commitment Act “was enacted in 2023 and prices at the gas pump, in the grocery store and the costs to power homes and businesses immediately increased.”

This tax is very regressive, which means it impacts lower income people more than people who are wealthy. This is for two reasons. Lower income people generally have to drive further distances because affordable housing is frequently a long way from where they work. When drivers use more fuel, they pay more tax. The second reason is because this takes a larger percentage of their paycheck than for higher wage earners.

In addition, because this tax impacts the transportation of every product we buy, this tax has the impact of making everything more expensive, from groceries to building supplies. This inflationary impact then drives insurance rates higher and higher. It’s a vicious cycle.

Vote “Yes” on 2117 to repeal this harmful and regressive tax. It’s time to stop paying for programs that don’t work.

Initiative 2124 – Vote “Yes” to have a choice on long-term care insurance

This initiative would allow workers to opt out of the pathetic state-run insurance program. It would allow workers to find plans that would fit their budget better and give them a benefit they could use without a $36,500 cap. If you’ve had a loved one in long term care, you know that this tiny benefit would be used up very quickly.

In addition, the work requirements to qualify to use the insurance benefit the worker has already been taxed for are arbitrarily high, and prevents workers who can’t work that number of hours from getting any benefit. Why should workers have to pay for a program they can’t even use?

Watch this video (bit.ly/4h7oCmq) about a young disabled worker to understand why this predatory taxation scheme is so unfair.

Older workers who will retire before working the required number of years, parents who take time off to raise their children, private caregivers who take time off work to care for a loved one and disabled workers all pay into this system for NO benefit. If they pay this tax, they should get a benefit!

This initiative simply allows workers to opt-out of WA Cares. Vote yes on I-2124 to give workers a choice.

Nancy Churchill is a writer and educator in rural eastern Washington State, and the state committeewoman for the Ferry County Republican Party. She may be reached at DangerousRhetoric@pm.me. The opinions expressed in Dangerous Rhetoric are her own. Dangerous Rhetoric is available on thinkspot, Rumble and Substack.

SOURCES:

1) Lets Go Washington I-2066, https://bit.ly/4f2WNcK
2) Lets Go Washington I-2109, https://bit.ly/3ZZTxuJ
3) Lets Go Washington I-2117, https://bit.ly/3Ubm1ho
4) Lets Go Washington I 2124, https://bit.ly/3BV17fS
5) LGW Video on 2124 “Supposed to help”, https://bit.ly/4h7oCmq