Tim Eyman Rehashes $30 Car Tab Initiative

If there's one thing you can say about Tim Eyman, it's that he's not a quitter. Dancing on top of the success of I-1053, the initiative passed this month which preserves the two-thirds legislative majority for tax increases, Eyman has hopped right back on it, doing the same thing he does at the end of every election season--whip up a new batch of initiatives. One of them reopens an old local politics wound: the $30 car tab. And this time, after a similar success in Mukilteo, he's thrown red light camera fines into the mix--those would also be capped at $30, under Eyman's proposed initiatives (there are several that involve both the $30 tabs and the $30 fines). Seattle Transit Blog has a solid rundown of I-473, the most recent of the proposed initiatives, and PubliCola explains some of the finer points of the included "Vehicle Owners' Bill of Rights."

For those who were babies or didn't live here at the time, in 1999 Eyman championed I-695, which lowered (or, in cases of really cheap cars, raised) car tabs to a flat fee of $30. It passed with 56% of the vote, but really threw a wrench in Washington's cash flow, decreasing state revenue by 7%. In 2000, after much lost time and revenue, it was thrown out in the state supreme court as unconstitutional. He also tried to freeze motor vehicle excise taxes at $30 in 2002.

It's not 1999 anymore. $30 now is different than $30 nearly 12 years ago, and our state is in even more of a budget crisis. Between the lost revenue and the wasted time and money on another supreme court appeal, this seems like a recipe for disaster--and the impact on public transit, particularly Sound Transit and its upcoming expansions, is yet to be determined.

Eyman also filed I-469, which reinforces the two-thirds legislative majority that was just passed to "deter the governor and the legislature from sidestepping, suspending or repealing any of Initiative 1053's policies in the 2011 legislative session."

Yes, this is, to some extent a case of "same shit, different year"--Eyman is always rebounding with some new initiative that cuts state revenue. But before we get bored with or dismiss Eyman, remember that his initiatives still pass.