For a Better Future for Everyone!
General
I will roll back corporate welfare and reign in political corruption
Before running for office, my Republican opponent , Glenn Anderson, was a corporate lobbyist for banks and oil companies. Glenn Anderson, as a corporate lobbyist, played a crucial role in gaining tax exemptions for major corporations which in turn led to a dramatic decline in school funding.
The following chart shows that tax breaks for major corporations skyrocketed by 250% in the 10 years since Glenn Anderson first went to Olympia (from $20 billion per year in 1998 to $50 billion by 2008):
Ten Years of Rapidly Rising Tax Breaks for Major Corporations
State Revenue compared to Tax Exemptions (to nearest Billion)
Washington State Office of Financial Management, 10 Year Financial Trends, Schedule 5: Near General Fund. Annual Tax Breaks extrapolated from DOR Tax Exemption Reports. See also http://leap.leg.wa.gov/leap/Oversight/histongf.pdf
There have been hundreds of tax exemptions granted by the legislature during the past 10 years (for a current total of about 600 major tax exemptions). Keep in mind that every dollar granted in tax exemptions is a dollar no longer available to fund our public schools. So votes in favor of tax exemptions are in fact votes against funding public schools. Glenn Anderson has played a crucial role in these tax exemptions in he is on the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) which oversees all of these Tax Exemptions (which the committee calls tax preferences). (http://www.leg.wa.gov/JLARC/Pages/members.aspx)
This committee has thus far failed to recommend repeal of any major tax exemptions. Thus, every year, Glenn plays a crucial role in robbing our public schools of the funds they need to operate. We will look at the two largest exemptions granted by the legislature to see the role Glenn has played in each. These are the Boeing Tax Exemptions and the Microsoft Tax Exemptions.
Glenn Anderson and the Boeing Tax Exemptions
The Boeing Tax Exemption is extremely complicated because it is in fact a whole series of about 10 major tax exemptions totaling more than $300 million per year, many phased in over time to hide their effect on the budget. The total cost since 2003 has been more than $2 billion. A prominent Boeing lobbyist once referred to our State legislature as “Boeing’s Cash Cow.” He boasted that anytime Boeing needed money they could get whatever they wanted from the legislature. It has been my personal observation that Boeing (and Microsoft) basically own the legislature.
The excuse used to grant Boeing billions in tax breaks was that it would keep Boeing profitable and save jobs. However, there are no strings attached to this money and Boeing has consistently outsourced jobs since being granted the exemption. For example, Boeing spent $2 billion building its anti-union plant in South Carolina. It is clear that this $2 billion is exactly the amount of the tax exemption granted. It is therefore accurate to say that Washington State taxpayers (and school children) paid for the South Carolina plant. Rather than saving jobs, the Boeing tax exemption has cost thousands of jobs.
The crucial vote on what some have called the Boeing Blackmail Bill was on June 10, 2003.
(Washington State House Bill 2294 http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2003&bill=2294)
Glenn voted for this tax exemption which has been in place every year since and currently costs our public schools about $300 million per year. The effect of this bill on school funding was hidden by the fact that man of the exemptions were added over time. Boeing makes several billion dollars per year. Eliminating this tax exemption would have almost no effect on their profit margin as they can deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes. And it would provide enough revenue to restore funding for thousands of teachers.
“The Day Corporate Greed Won”
The Boeing tax exemption package was the biggest tax write-off in state history. Here is only part of what was implemented by the Washington state legislators on Boeing’s behalf:
- A 40% reduction in the Business and Occupation tax. This is the largest single handout, and a massive cut in the primary business tax paid to the state.
- Boeing will be exempt from sales tax on the materials it uses to build the 7E7 plant.
- A 40% reduction in Research and Development taxes paid by businesses.
- All property taxes on new facilities will be set off against the amount of Business and Occupation tax Boeing pays. This would exempt Boeing from paying property taxes on the new 7E7 facility.
- $16 million in public money for a new port facility. This will allow larger sections of Boeing planes to be outsourced (made overseas by non-union, lower-paid workers).
The new 7E7 plant employs a mere 1,000 workers. Boeing had laid off 40,000 other workers during 2002-2003! Shortly after this deal was struck, under the guise of creating more jobs, the company turned around and announced plans to lay off hundreds more workers and export hundreds of jobs to countries with cheaper, non-union labor. Boeing workers in China make a mere $50 per month.
Each year between 1999 and 2002, Boeing made over $3 billion a year in profits and paid its shareholders between a 19% and 30% return on their capital. Boeing top executives make over one million dollars each per year. At the same time Boeing laid off 40,000 workers in Washington State.
What Glenn and the State Legislature Sacrificed to pay for the Boeing Tax Break
First on the budget chopping block were two education ballot initiatives passed by voters in 2000. Initiative 728, to reduce class sizes, won the greatest voter approval in the history of Washington State - 72%. Initiative 732, intended to provide teachers with a cost-of-living raise, won with 63% of the vote. In response, 30,000 teachers rallied in Olympia to voice their demand that these initiatives and the voters’ choices be implemented. This rally in January of 2003 was the largest in Olympia history. As a teacher at Bellevue Community College, I personally attended this rally to protest the I 728 and I 732 cuts
Here is a detailed list of what was taken from education in the 2003-2005 budget approved by the State Legislature: total cut $600 million from K-12 public education.
These cuts include:
- The cost-of-living adjustment for teachers (i.e. Initiative 732) was cut $359 million.
- Funding for smaller class sizes (Initiative 728) was cut $188 million.
- Employee pension funding was cut $61.3 million.
- The flexible education grant program was eliminated, worth $41.4 million.
- State funding for special education was cut $17.1 million.
- Money for replacement of old, unsafe school buses was cut $10.7 million.
- The state's district breakdown of legislative cuts for the 2004 school year shows Seattle losing $6 million; Tacoma, $3 million; Lake Washington, $2.1 million; Kent, Edmonds, Bellevue, Issaquah, and Highline, just under $2 million each. The Snoqualmie Valley School District and Tahoma School District each lost just under $1 million dollars.
There were 2 key votes in cutting school funding in 2003.
These were Senate Bill 6058 on June 5, 2003 (Glenn Anderson voted to reduce I 728 Per Student school funding by $188 million – cutting the Student Achievement Fund by 50%) http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2003&bill=6058
And Senate Bill 6059 on June 9, 2003 (Glenn Anderson voted to eliminate I 732 Teacher COLA funding by $359 million – basically eliminating Teacher COLA’s for several years). http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2003&bill=6059
Including several minor cuts Glenn also voted for, Glenn voted to cut $600 million in public school funding in 2003 while at the same time granting Boeing a $3 billion tax break. I 728 and I 723 had forced the State to increase funding for schools slightly in 2001 to 2003. However, Glenn’s vote to suspend both Initiatives reversed this minor up tick in the 2002 to 2003 school years and go back onto a downward trend school funding has been on ever since. We simply cannot afford to pay for both public schools and massive tax breaks for Boeing. Glenn showed that his priority was not school funding, but tax breaks for big business.
Glenn Anderson and the Microsoft Tax Exemptions
On January 30, 2004, Glenn Anderson voted to approve House Bill 2546, the High Technology tax incentive. 2004 House Bill 2546 http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2003&bill=2546
The High Technology Business Tax Exemption and sales tax exemption were renewed in 2004 – despite the fact that studies by the Washington State Department of Revenue found no connection between the tax exemptions and job growth in the high tech industry.
See Washington Department of Revenue, High Technology R & D Tax Incentive Study, September 2003
The Microsoft tax breaks occur in several forms. These include exemptions from sales taxes and B & O taxes – some written especially for Microsoft and some generalized to High Technology businesses. The Microsoft Tax Exemptions are only slightly smaller than the Boeing Tax Exemptions at about $200 million per year. Microsoft reported a profit of about $4.5 billion in the 4th Quarter of 2009 for an annual profit of about $18 billion. Eliminating these tax breaks would affect Microsoft profits by much less than one tenth of one percent and again could be deducted from their federal taxes.
Glenn Anderson and the Billion Dollar Cut to Schools in 2009
On April 20, 2009, Glenn Anderson voted in favor of House Bill 2261 which claimed to be a measure to increase school funding, but was in fact authorizing largest cut in school funding in State history. 2009 House Bill 2261 http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2009&bill=2261
I personally witnessed this battle because I was in Olympia the entire session and I testified on four different occasions in opposition to the bill which authorized the billion dollar cut in school funding.
House Bill 2261: Fake Education Reform hiding a Billion dollar cut to public schools
The following email was sent from Mary Lindquist, President of the Washington Education Association to members of the WEA on April 16, 2009:
Unfortunately, four days later, on April 20, 2009, the House of Representatives passed HB 2261 on a vote of 67 to 31. The passage of House Bill 2261 during the 2009 legislative session is a prime example of why our public schools urgently need better more honest political leaders. House Bill 2261, to put it bluntly, is even worse than Mary Lindquist described in her email. It is extremely misleading. It is one of the largest unfunded mandates in the history of our State.
House Bill 2261 deceived the public into believing that progress is being made in funding schools when in fact, the school funding problem was actually made worse by seven “escape clauses” in House Bill 2261 which did not exist in the Basic Education Act it replaced.
Among HB 2261’s many shortcomings are:
- It delays an actual funding solution for at least the next 9 years. Even then, there is no guarantee that school funding will ever improve because of at least seven “escape clauses” in House Bill 2261.
- It removed any protections for minimum class sizes. Whereas minimum teacher to student ratios were well defined in prior legislation, at roughly 18 to 22 students per funded teacher, House Bill 2261 sets the minimum standard to be whatever the legislature feels it can afford in any given legislative session.
SHORTCOMINGS OF HOUSE BILL 2261 IN PLAIN ENGLISH
House Bill 2261 claims to “Redefine Basic Education” to include Full Day Kindergarten (versus the current half day program and the “opportunity for 24 High School credits” (versus the current 18 credits). However, in reality, the bill is provides no additional funding for these reforms and instead adds only loopholes making it easier for the legislature to fail to fund our public schools in future years. For example, on page 3, lines 12 to 13, the bill states: The legislature intends that the redefined program of basic education and funding for the program be fully implemented by 2018. But later clauses make it clear that even then there will be no guarantee that any real reform will ever occur. These escape clauses include the following:
1. Page 12, lines 11 to 14: To the extent the technical details of the formula have been adopted by the legislature, the distribution formula for the basic education instructional allocation shall be based on minimum staffing and non-staff costs the legislature deems necessary. Plain English: Minimum funding is whatever the legislature says. Thus, there is no guarantee of reform even in 10 years from now.
Minimum class size funding language is eliminated: Not only is there no guarantee of any actual educational reforms, but the prior minimum in school funding was also eliminated, meaning that the legislature granted itself the right to reduce funding below 1978 levels:: The formula adopted by the legislature shall reflect the following ratios at a minimum: (i) Forty-nine certificated instructional staff to one thousand average full time equivalent students enrolled n grades kindergarten through three; (ii) forty six certificated instructional staff to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students in grades four through twelve; four certificated administrative staff to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students in grades kindergarten through twelve; and (iv) sixteen and sixty-seven one hundredths classified personnel to one thousand annual average full time equivalent students enrolled in grades kindergarten through twelve. (HB 2261, Page 16, lines 3 to 10).
Plain English: The 1978 Basic Education Act established minimum levels of teacher and staff to student ratios. The Fake Education Reform bill eliminated those minimum standards.
As a consequence of removing the minimum class size language on Page 16, lines 3 to 10 of House Bill 2261, Glenn Anderson and the 2009 legislature were able to cut over a billion dollars in I-728 and I-732 funding as well as robbing another billion dollars from the school construction capital budget (discussed next).
Glenn Anderson votes to reduce school construction funding
Operating funds are only half the picture of what it takes to run our public schools. The other have is school repair and construction. This issue is particularly important fo a growing school district such as the Snoqualmie Valley School District. We have 1700 kids going to a high school designed for 1000 kids. We had nearly 1000 little kids on Snoqualmie Ridge going to an Elementary School designed for 500 kids. Several times we have tried to pass a bond to build a new high school and a new elementary school. One of the main reasons these bond proposals failed is that the State was only willing to pay for 3% of the cost of building our schools. This is the first time in the hundred year history of our State that the legislature has refused to help a community build an urgently needed high school. Glenn Anderson, despite sitting on the Education Appropriations Committee refused to lift a finger to help our community get the schools we needed. I was so angry at Glenn over this issue in 2008 that I decided to run for office a couple of weeks after our third school bond failure.
Whereas our State legislature has historically provided more than 60% of the actual construction costs of public schools in the 1980’s, State funding has fallen to as low as 10% of actual costs during the past 10 years. The national average State school repair and construction match is about 50% of actual costs.
State % Match of Actual School Construction Costs 1985 to 2007
Berk and Associates (2008) K12 School Construction Funding Transparency Study, October 1, 2008, page 11 tp page 14 from OSPI data; hereafter referred to as the 2008 OSPI School Construction Transparency Study
Like with operating costs, the State’s failure to help fund school construction has led to a dramatic increase in local school bond and levy costs which in turn have led to a rapid rise in local property taxes. This increase has been particularly harmful to those who are retired and/or living on a fixed income. This unfair tax burden increase on middle class homeowners is as high as $1,000 additional dollars per year on a $500,000 home in King County. In recent years, homeowners have increasingly rebelled against excessively high property taxes by voting against school construction and repair bonds. The situation is now so bad that over 100,000 children in our State spend their school days in poorly ventilated particle board boxes, half of all schools suffer major health problems and 30% of all public schools have significant water quality problems.
The above chart does not include school construction bond failures. Had these unmet demands been included, local funding would have doubled and the State % of actual total would have been cut in half (as low as 5% of actual school construction needs in 2001).
The current school construction and repair backlog is about $20 billion dollars
Beginning in the mid- 1980’s and continuing to the present day, the legislature has used a series of math tricks to evade their Constitutional obligation to help build and operate public schools. As a direct result of the State failure to adequately assist local school districts in building schools, there are now over 100,000 “un-housed” students in our State going to school in poorly ventilated particle board boxes. This is 10% or one out of every ten students in our State. It will take building about 200 schools each housing 500 students each to correct this deficiency. At an average cost of $40 million dollars per school, it will take more than $8 billion dollars to correct this problem. If the State’s share is 50%, the State will have to fund more than $4 billion additional dollars just to correct this school construction backlog.
Glenn Anderson votes against School Construction funding
Despite the fact that I explained in every debate during the 2008 campaign that the reason I was running against Glenn was because he refused to help our school district get the matching funds we need to build schools, on April 7, 2009, Glenn voted against a bill which would have provided billions of dollars for school construction. The Snoqualmie Valley School District would have financially and educationally benefited more from this bill than any other school district in the State and yet our own representative had the nerve to vote against his own school district!
House Bill 2334 committee report http://dlr.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/default.aspx?year=2009&bill=2334 see top of page 2 noting Anderson voted against this bill.
The report for 2009 House Bill 2334, which attempted to provide $3 billion in State bonds to address this problem, referred to a recent survey of public schools which indicated that there were at least $4 billion dollars in school repair backlogs. However, the true size of the problem is much larger than that. In 2008, the Seattle Public School District estimated a repair backlog of $485 million dollars.
Holtzman, C. (2008) Washington Schools Confront Large Backlog. Puget Sound Business Journal. August 15, 2008
With about 5% of the State’s one million school children, this would indicate that the total Statewide school repair backlog is more than $10 billion dollars. Thus, the current school construction and repair backlog is about $20 billion dollars.
This is an extremely hot button issue in East King County as we are one of the most rapidly growing areas of the State. Currently 20% of the students in the Snoqualmie Valley School District are housed in particle board boxes. According to a 2008 report from our State Auditor, these temporary classrooms cost twice as much over the long run as building real permanent schools.
Washington State Auditor, Performance Audit Report, September 30, 2008. http://www.sao.wa.gov/AuditReports/AuditReportFiles/ar1000013.pdf
Our community is in desperate need of a second high school and another elementary school. Yet in our last two school construction bond measures, the State Match was only 3%!!! This was the first time in State history that the legislature refused to help a community build an urgently needed high school. Asa consequence of the State’s abandonment off our community and our kids, both bond measures went down to defeat. Shortly after the second School Bond failure in Spring 2008, I decided to run for office to correct this problem.
Incredibly, during my 2008 Interview with the Seattle Times Editorial Board, my opponent Glenn Anderson, was so out of touch with the anger in our community, that he was not even aware of the fact that the State legislature was only willing to pay for 3% of the cost a new high school!!! This is why thousands of Republicans voted for me in the 2008 Primary and the 2008 General Election. Our un-housed student problem has only gotten worse since 2008, which is why thousands more will be voting for me in 2010. I have pledged that I will restore school construction funding to the national average of 50% of actual costs.
Glenn Anderson Corporate Donors 2000 to 2009
As compensation for selling out the future of our children by diverting billions of dollars away from schools and into tax breaks for major corporations, hundreds of Public Disclosure Commission documents show that Glenn Anderson has received more than $400,000 in campaign contributions to help with his election campaigns.
(This is only a partial list of Glenn Anderson’s top corporate donors. Glenn’s complete PDC file runs hundreds of pages): Boeing, Microsoft, Washington Beer and Wine Wholesalers, Anheuser-Busch, Miller Brewing Company, Philip Morris Tobacco Corp, Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Corp., Merck Drug Corp, Medtronics Drug Corp, Glaxo-Smith-Kline Drug Corp, Pfizer Drug Corp, Eli Lilly Drug Corp, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacy Associates, Chevron, Texaco, British Petroleum (BP), Atlantic Richfield (ARCO), Tesoro Petroleum, Oil Marketer’s Assoc. PAC, Puget Sound Energy, Boeing, Association of General Contractors, Associated Builders PAC, Washington Builders Association, Weyerhaeuser, Boise Cascade, Plum Creek Timber, Simpson Lumber, Longview Fiber, Regence Blue Shield, Premera Blue Cross, Safeco, Pemco, Farmers Insurance, Physicians Insurance, Insurance Advisors PAC, US Bank, Washington Banker’s PAC, Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, NW Attorneys PAC, Sprint NW PAC, Safeway, QWEST PAC, Sprint, AT&T, Comcast, ….
The Role of BOTH Political Parties Transferring Billions of Dollars Away from Public Schools and into Tax Breaks for Major Corporations
Obviously Glenn was not solely responsible for this massive diversion of billions of dollars in cuts to our public schools. These cuts occurred while Republicans were in charge and they continued to occur while corporate Democrats were in charge of the legislature. So school funding cuts are not about the Republican or Democratic party. Both parties claim to care about school funding and the leaders of both parties have continued to cut billions of dollars in school funding to protect their corporate welfare schemes.
I have been just as big a critic of the current batch of corporate – dominated leaders of the Democratic Party as I have been of Glenn Anderson and the Republican Party. This is why I am not currently the official Democratic nominee even though I got 6,000 more votes than any other Democratic Legislative candidate in the history of the 5th District in the 2008 election.
But I did not run for office to rubber stamp Democratic corporate kickback schemes. I ran to restore funding for our public schools back up to at least the national average. And that is what I am going to continue to advocate for.
What the Future Holds: Devastating Cuts for Public Schools
The budget shortfall for the next session will be between $3 billion to $6 billion dollars. Passing Initiative 1098 will only be a partial solution to this budget shortfall. Unless these massive corporate tax breaks are reduced, we will be forced to fire between 10,000 to 12,000 teachers. That is one out of every 5 teachers in our school district. Our current legislature has shown it is willing to cut school funding by billions of dollars in order to protect billions of dollars in corporate welfare. This makes the 2010 election one of the most important in State history.
Conclusion
Glenn Anderson claims to be a pro-education Republican. He has served on at least three different committees charged with the task of finding a solution to the school funding problem. Yet each committee Glenn has served on failed to come up with a single solution to the school funding problem. Glenn’s only solution is to “cut everything else.” Unfortunately, everything else includes police, judges and emergency room doctors. A child should not have to choose between a teacher and a doctor.
Glenn has claimed that the reason school funding is so low is that State spending is “out of control. However the following chart shows that State taxes and State spending have been below the national average ever since 2000.
Comparing WA Total State Taxes to National Average (as a % of Income)
(WA ST Office of Financial Management http://www.ofm.wa.gov/trends/tables/fig505.asp)
It is not State spending that is out of control, it is Glenn Anderson’s tax breaks for major corporations that is out of control.
The total cost to the Snoqualmie Valley School District of Glenn Anderson’s votes against public school funding has been greater than any other school district in the State.
The operating budget alone for our school district has endured several million dollars in cuts. But by far, the biggest loss has been in the area of school construction. If we had national average school construction funding, our school district would have a new high school in North Bend and a new elementary school on Snoqualmie Ridge and we would have received nearly $80 million in additional State funding. The total cost of Glenn’s budget cuts to our school district has therefore exceeded $100 million in the past 10 years.
Glenn has been in the legislature 10 years – 13 including his time as a corporate lobbyist - and all he has really done is create the tax exemption problem which has led to billions in cuts for public schools. On more than a dozen occasions, Glenn has voted to increase corporate tax breaks and/or reduce school funding.
By contrast, in the past 2 years, I have accomplished what most people felt would be impossible. I have managed to get a fair tax proposal – Initiative 1098 - on the Fall Ballot. Initiative 1098 will provide nearly one billion dollars in additional funding for public schools and another billion in tax relief for homeowners and small businesses.
In short, I have accomplished more to increase school funding in the past two years than Glenn has in the past ten years. With a $3 billion budget shortfall estimated to occur in the 2011 session, much more remains to be done. But I have proven I will take action to save our public schools and not merely rely on corporate double talk to claim a concern for schools while in reality robbing schools by granting massive tax breaks to greedy corporate lobbyists.
Feel free to email me with any questions concerning this report.
Regards, David Spring M. Ed. Director, Fair School Funding Coalition
And Democratic Candidate for the Washington State House of Representatives
I will rebuild our economy
We have 3.5 million workers in Washington State. Yet only 2.8 million are working. This means 700,000 are in urgent need of a job. This is a 20% unemployment rate – which is twice the unemployment rate reported in the media.
I am the only candidate in this race who has proposed a specific plan to provide more than 100,000 new jobs in the next year. Initiative 1098 creates jobs and gets our economy moving again by putting two billion dollars per year back in the hands of middle class families and small business owners – creating 100,000 new jobs.
Both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried Trickle Down economics. Bush gave billions in tax breaks to the super rich with the hope that they would spend it. Instead, they invested in high risk stock market speculation – casino capitalism - which led eventually to a Crash in the Fall of 2008.
Obama made nearly the same mistake. He gave billions in bailouts to major banks hoping they would invest it in American jobs. Instead, they invested their windfall profits in China and India and bonuses for corporate executives. Very little of the stimulus dollars ever trickled down to American workers.
The solution to our economic crisis is to increase the income of middle class families – also called Bottom Up Economics. The advantage of giving the money directly to middle class families is that they will spend it right here in our State supporting local businesses and creating local jobs.
There are three ways to increase middle class income. The first is direct tax relief. As noted above, I will lower middle class taxes by 20% putting an extra thousand dollars per year into the hands of middle class families.
The second way to increase income is to help local small businesses create more jobs. For years, I have proposed elimination of the B & O tax on small businesses. My proposals to lower property taxes and eliminate the B & O tax were incorporated into Initiative 1098.
Finally, I will insist that any tax incentives given to big businesses be directly tied to keeping jobs in our State. I will require that major corporations act in a responsible manner to prevent them from using precious tax payer dollars to outsource jobs. This will create another 100,000 jobs – again I am the only candidate proposing these measures. So I hope you will not only vote for me, but also encourage your friends and neighbors to vote for me.
Last Updated on Monday, 02 August 2010 04:49
I will reduce middle class taxes
Initiative 1098 lowers taxes lowers the State property tax by 20%and eliminates B & O taxes for 80% of small businesses.
1098 also creates a fairer tax structure
Our Courts have repeated ruled that our public schools are not being adequately funded. Our State is currently 47th in the nation in school funding. The primary cause of this lack of funding is that our State has the most unfair tax structure in the nation - with billionaires paying less than 2% of income in State taxes while our middle class pays about 12%. Our middle class pays too much because our super rich are not paying their fair share
Washington’s unfair tax structure harms kids and middle class tax payers!
Middle Class families in Washington State pay State taxes at a rate which is 6 times higher than the rate paid by Washington State billionaires.
If billionaires in our State paid their fair share, we could hire thousands of teachers and lower taxes on our middle class down to the national average.
If Initiative 1098 passes this Fall, billionaires in our State will pay State taxes at about the same rate as they would pay in Oregon, Idaho and California.
1098 will not harm billionaires as they can deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes. So it is really just a $2 billion dollar per year transfer from the federal treasury to our State treasury.
Initiative 1098 also lowers middle class taxes by lowering the State property tax rate by 20% and eliminating the Business and Occupation tax on 80% of all small businesses.
I am the only candidate in this race who has proposed a plan to achieve a fair tax structure.I therefore hope you will not only vote for me, but also encourage your friends and neighbors to vote for me too.
I will Restore School Funding to the national average
Our middle class in East King County pay some of the highest State taxes in the nation. Yet our children are forced to go to some of the lowest funded most over-crowded schools. School funding in Washington State has plunged during the past 10 years to 47th in the nation. The future of our one million children is being shortchanged at a rate of $2,000 per child below the national average.
It hasn’t always been this way. 13 years ago, when my Republican opponent, Glenn Anderson, first went to Olympia as a lobbyist for banks and oil companies, we were above the national average in school funding at 4.8% of income.
As of 2008, we had fallen to 4.1% of income.
School Funding as % of Income – Comparing Washington to the National Average
(US Census Bureau, Public Education Finances, Annual Reports, Table 12)
Since then, over one billion additional dollars has been cut from school funding – firing thousands of teachers and dropping us below 4% of income invested in our schools.
For more than 2 years, I have advocated for a fair “national average” tax structure so that we can have fair national average school funding and so our children can have a fair and national average chance at success in life. (see fairschoolfundingcoalition.org). It will take about $3 billion additional dollars per year to restore school funding in our State to the national average.
Washington’s Unfair Tax Structure: Our middle class pays too much because our super rich are not paying their fair share
The reason school funding is so low in our State is we have the most unfair tax structure in America. (Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), Who Pays… A Distributional Analysis of the Tax System in all 50 States, Third Edition, November 2009)
If the super rich in our State paid their fair share, we could increase school funding by more than $1 billion per year, hire thousands of teachers and lower our class sizes down to the national average. Best of all, it would not harm our super rich as they could deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes.
Two years ago, all the political experts told me it would be impossible to ever get Fair Tax Reform on the ballot. However, after 2 years of hard work, Initiative 1098 will be on the Fall Ballot. It is a good first step in reforming our tax code and it is essential that we pass this Initiative in order to save the jobs of thousands of teachers.
I am the only candidate in this race who has created a plan to restore school funding to the national average. My opponents oppose my plan, but have no plan of their own.
So a vote for either one is a vote for firing 10,000 teachers and placing the future of one million children at risk. I therefore hope you will not only vote for me, but also encourage your friends and neighbors to vote for me too.
The Need is Urgent and the Time to Act is Now!
$1 Billion in remaining federal stimulus funds will protect schools for the coming 2010/11 school year. But this funding will be gone by the Fall of 2011! In addition, the Washington State Office of Financial Management is projecting another $3 billion deficit for 2011. Unless voters approve Initiative 1098 this Fall, there will be drastic cuts in education funding for the 2011-2012 school year, including eliminating more than 10,000 teachers. One million children in our State are counting on us to provide them with a good education. I hope you will join me in working to pass Initiative 1098 this Fall.
Questions? Feel free to email me: David Spring, M. Ed,
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or visit our website: whywesupport1098.org
“As a parent and teacher, I believe our community deserves better, more effective representation in Olympia. Our middle class pay some of the highest State taxes in the nation, yet our kids are forced to attend some of the lowest funded most over crowded schools. Money that should go towards schools instead has been diverted - by my opponent and others in our corporate controlled legislature - into billions of dollars in tax breaks for wealthy multi-national corporations - who then ship our jobs overseas. It is time to elect a representative who understands the needs of working families. I will work for quality schools, economic security and fairer taxes.”
The 2010 election is extremely important for the future of our economy and the future of our children:
- This election will determine whether we restore school funding so that one million school children will have a chance for an adequate education – or instead stand by and do nothing as thousands of teachers lose their jobs.
- This election will determine whether we rebuild our economy - or continue to allow thousands of hard working families and small business owners to lose their jobs, their homes, their health care and their life savings.
- This election will determine whether we roll back corporate welfare or continue towaste billions of dollars on tax breaks for wealthy multi-national corporations that bribe our State legislature and outsource our jobs.
- This election will determine whether we reign in political corruption in Olympia - or continue to allow corporate lobbyists to sell elections to the highest bidder - who turn around and give away billions in tax breaks to their corporate bosses.
We are facing one of the greatest economic challenges in our nation’s history. Thousands of people have lost their jobs due an economy crippled by the fact that the richest one percent now control 90% of our nation’s wealth. Thousands of small businesses are on the edge of bankruptcy because their customers no longer have the income to shop at their stores. Thousand of families have lost their homes due to predatory lending practices. Thousands more have lost their health insurance - and some have even lost their life - in order to feed the greed of Wall Street executives. And thousands of senior citizens have lost their life savings due to stock market swindles.
Here in East King County, we are at Ground Zero of this crisis. Our middle class pay some of the highest State taxes in the nation – over $1,000 per family per year ABOVE the national average. This is the price every family in Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend, Snoqualmie and Maple Valley are paying for the corporate corruption in Olympia.
At the same time, our kids are forced to attend some of the lowest funded and most overcrowded schools in the nation. The Issaquah, Snoqualmie Valley and Tahoma School Disticts are three of the lowest funded school districts in the United States! Our public schools are funded at a rate which is $1,000 per pupil below the State average and $3,000 per pupil per year below the national average. This is the price our children are paying for the corporate corruption in Olympia.
Finally, even though small businesses generate two out of every three new jobs in our State, and have close community ties, they are forced to pay State Business and Occupation taxes are rates which are often two to three times the rate of multi-national corporations – corporations whose only loyalty is to short term greed regardless of the consequences to our local communities.
This summer, things will get even worse as thousands of teachers lose their jobs and thousands of small businesses are forced to close their doors – causing even more families to lose their jobs, their homes and their savings.
It does not have to be this way. If we all work together to win this election, we can:
- Restore School Funding to the National Average – permitting us to hire thousands of teachers instead of firing thousands of teachers - and giving our kids a fair chance at a successful future.
- Reduce State taxes on our Middle Class downto the National average – saving every family over $1,000 per year. This will give families more money to spend on local businesses which will help jump start our economy.
- Rebuild our Economy by reducing small business taxes to the national average – allowing small businesses to compete on a level playing field with multi-national corporations. Helping small businesses will restore over one hundred thousands jobs here in Washington State – allowing families to earn pay checks instead of unemployment checks.
- Roll back corporate welfare to the national average. Tax exemptions have skyrocketed during the past 10 years – from $20 billion dollars a year in 2000 to $50 billion dollars a year today. Requiring mega corporations to pay their fair share of State taxes will generate $10 billion dollars a year which can be used to restore school funding back up to the national average, as well as lower middle class and small business taxes back down to the national average.
This election is not merely about whether the 5th District will be represented by a Republican or a Democrat. Both political parties claim they support public schools. Yet both political parties have cut billions of dollars in school funding and diverted it into billions of dollars of corporate welfare for some of the richest corporations in the history of the world.
This election is about whether we will continue with the failed corrupt corporate dominated policies that got us into this economic mess – or whether we will go in a new direction which focuses on better schools, a stronger economy and a brighter future for all of us.
I am a teacher, a parent, a small business owner and a long time resident of East King County. I am a volunteer for my daughter’s Elementary School PTA and I have served on King County and Washington State Planning Commissions. I hope you will not only vote for me, but call and email your friends and neighbors and encourage them to support me. Together we can and will restore school funding, rebuild our economy and provide a brighter future for all of us.
In the following pages of this website, I provide further details on what I mean by corporate corruption in Olympia and how we can take back our communities from corporate corruption. I hope you will take the time to read these pages as they explain about what is really going on in Olympia. Feel free to email me if you have any questions or if you would like to volunteer to help out our campaign. I appreciate your support.
Regards, David Spring M. Ed.
Director, Fair School Funding Coalition
PO Box 57 North Bend WA 98045