Yesterday’s update was the most important one this year. So I’m sending it again, but this one is shorter.

Tues, May 5th, 2026

To: Our thousands of supporters throughout the state
(cc’d to the media, house & senate members, and Governor, and other candidates for office)

From: Tim Eyman
Fighting for taxpayers for 29 years

Yesterday’s court ruling blocks Brian Heywood’s referendum.

So now the question is:

Is it better to do an initiative to the people or an initiative to the legislature to overturn the Democrats’ Destructive Income Tax?

THERE’S ONLY ONE PERSON WHO IS ACTUALLY GOING TO MAKE THAT DECISION: AND THAT’S BRIAN HEYWOOD. 

He is OUR LEADER and he is the ONLY ONE who has the guts, the motivation, the financial resources, and the proven organizational prowess to lead a successful signature drive to qualify an initiative for a public vote.

So all of us should / will follow him and support whichever path he chooses.

Petitions haven’t been printed yet so it’s still an open question which path he plans to take.

I’M GOING TO TAKE SOME TIME HERE AND MAKE THE CASE FOR NOT DOING AN INITIATIVE TO THE PEOPLE THIS YEAR.

1) Jim has already filed an initiative to the people that repeals the income tax.

Here’s its already assigned ballot title:

Initiative Measure No. IP26-211 concerns state taxes. This measure would repeal a 9.9% tax on annual individual income above $1,000,000 and repeal the expansion of certain tax exemptions or credits for certain household goods and services, working families, and businesses.

2) For any tax initiative that qualifies for the ballot, the Democrats passed a law in 2022 that empowers the AG to insert a “public investment impact disclosure” into a ballot title.

Here’s the one for the capital gains repeal initiative from 2024:

“This measure would decrease funding for I-12 education, higher education, school construction, early learning, and childcare.”

So this will appear on ballots and in the voters’ pamphlet if Jim’s initiative qualifies for this November’s ballot:

“Initiative Measure No. IP26-211 concerns state taxes. This measure would repeal a 9.9% tax on annual individual income above $1,000,000 and repeal the expansion of certain tax exemptions or credits for certain household goods and services, working families, and businesses. This measure would decrease funding for I-12 education, higher education, school construction, early learning, and childcare. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes __ No __”

That is horribly biased against the initiative.

         

3) For weeks I’ve heard about a poll that’s been circulating among business groups and finally got a copy of it (a business lobbyist forwarded it to me):

Several statewide measures will likely be on the ballot soon. We’d like to ask if you support them or not.

The first initiative concerns state taxes. Here is the initiative’s ballot title: This measure would repeal a 9.9% tax on annual individual income above $1,000,000 and repeal the expansion of certain tax exemptions or credits for certain household goods and services, working families, and businesses.

This measure would decrease funding for K-12 education, higher education, school construction, early learning, and childcare. Do you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose this initiative?

            23% Strongly support
            10% Somewhat support
            15% Somewhat oppose
            44% Strongly oppose
              8% Not sure

33% yes, 59% no, 8% not sure

4) It doesn’t matter how much money an initiative campaign has, the INITIAL level of public support for a ballot title is the high-water mark — public approval only goes down, it NEVER goes up, during the campaign. So unless the initial support for a ballot title is higher than 60%, the initiative is …

5) None of my tax initiatives ever had a “public investment impact disclosure” inserted into their ballot titles. And so we consistently won even though we never spent a dime on the fall campaign and opponents always spent millions (and by the way, we were markedly more successful in odd-numbered elections — which this year is not).

6) Since the law took effect that empowers the AG to insert a sabotage sentence into tax initiatives that qualify, EVERY TAX INITIATIVE HAS FAILED.

7) Some will say “We know the people oppose an income tax and we have done extensive polling that shows the voters ‘get it’.”

HERE’S AN INITIATIVE WAR STORY THAT SHOWS WHY THAT’S NOT ENOUGH.

In 2006, real estate developer Martin Selig was supporting an initiative to repeal the Democrats’ new estate tax. He told me he had done extensive polling and it showed the people didn’t support the new tax. 

I told him to call me when he got the final ballot title.

Here it is: “Initiative Measure No. 920 concerns estate tax. This measure would repeal Washington’s state laws imposing tax, currently dedicated for the education legacy trust fund, on transfers of estates of persons dying on or after the effective date of this measure. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes __ No ___.”

I told him no way that wins.

He went ahead and spent millions while the other side spent millions.

The result?

62% no, 38% yes.

Same thing with the capital gains income tax repeal initiative in 2024.

Here’s what appeared on the ballot and in the voters’ pamphlet:

Initiative Measure No. 2109 concerns taxes. This measure would repeal an excise tax imposed on the sale or exchange of certain long-term capital assets by individuals who have annual capital gains of over $250,000. This measure would decrease funding for K-12 education, higher education, school construction, early learning, and childcare. Should this measure be enacted into law? Yes ___ No ___

The result?

Like everyone on our side, I want the Democrats’ Income Tax eliminated. 

But rushing to the ballot because we THINK we can convince the voters to ignore that horrendously bad ballot title, to ignore the millions that will be spent by opponents, and to eventually vote for it anyway is not a winning strategy.

As always, I welcome your feedback.

For 29 years, I’ve been fighting for our state and our nation.

Is it any wonder Bully Bob Ferguson is trying so hard to impose a lifetime ban on all my future political activity? 

I urge you to help me survive this political persecution by donating to the Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund so we can get the AG’s ridiculously unconstitutional ruling overturned.

Mail your check to: 
Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund
17404 Meridian Ave E #F PMB 176
Puyallup, WA, 98375

Or donate online:
By GiveSendGo (credit/debit card)
By Paypal (donate using PayPal or using a credit/debit card)

The only reason I’m still here and I’m still fighting is because of the prayers, love, and support of wonderful friends like you who’ve seen this gross injustice and abuse of power and are willing to help.

I love you all.

Onward!

Tim 

You can call or text me anytime: 509-991-5295

You can email me anytime: Tim@TimDefense.com

For more details, go to: TimDefense.com