Mon, Feb 12, 2024

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 27 years

The Democrats started with a simple bill that changed our 1% property tax cap to a 3% property tax cap.

So what does that mean?

It means that instead of state government raising your property taxes 1% each year, they would raise your property taxes 3% every year.

And your county government would increase your property taxes 3% every year.

And your city government would increase your property taxes 3% every year.

And every port district, public utility district, school district, park district, fire district, library district, cemetery district, and mosquito district would each raise your property taxes 3% every year.

All those 3%’s would compound year after year after year (like compound interest).

It was a brutally mean bill that would’ve hurt EVERYONE especially seniors, working class families, and renters.

And before they even had a hearing on the bill, WE BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF IT by sending thousands of emails to legislators.

So at the first hearing, where we had nearly 8000 people signed in opposed, the Democrats announced they had a new bill (it’s called a substitute bill).

No one had had a chance to examine it because it didn’t appear on the legislature’s website.

They were hiding it.

And I learned why later.

Because it was radically worse than the original bill.

But the media continued reporting — FALSELY – that their bill raised the limit from 1% to 3% (and they never explained that it was 3% every year for every government).

Now that we’ve successfully killed the Democrats’ effort to eliminate our property tax cap (click here to read Friday’s victory announcement), I can tell you how much worse the Democrats’ substitute bill was.

BOTTOM LINE: we didn’t stop a lot of 3% bullets from hitting the taxpayers.

WE BEAT BACK A PROPERTY TAX TIME BOMB! 

Their substitute bill empowered every level of government (the state, counties, cities, ports, etc) to raise your property taxes each year 3% or the Consumer Price Index (CPI) whichever was less.

But buried in the bill’s text was this property tax time bomb: if the CPI was higher than 3% that year, then every government would “bank” the difference between CPI and 3% and be able to unilaterally impose that extra amount the following year.

In recent years, the CPI hit 7% two years in a row. So let’s use 7% CPI as an example.

Let’s say that in the first year every level of government raised your property taxes 3%.

With CPI at 7%, every level of government would have 4% more to raise your property taxes the following year.

So the following year, every level of government would raise your property taxes 7% that year (3% plus the 4% they banked from the previous year).

And they would raise it that amount unilaterally — without a public vote — they wouldn’t need to ask the voters’ permission.

So it would’ve been 3% increases by every government the first year, then 7% increases by every government the next year.

But it gets worse.

With CPI at 7% the following year, every government would get their 3% increase again and bank the 4% for the next year.

So the following year, every government would raise your property taxes 7% that year too.

But what happens when CPI goes to 8% or 9% or 10%?

Every government would raise your property taxes 7%, 8%, 9%, 10% EVERY YEAR!!

Beating back Substitute Senate Bill 5770 wasn’t us dodging bullets.

We successfully blocked an absolute catastrophe.

But even now with this victory in the rearview mirror, the media continues to lie about what the Democrats almost did:

It’s simply maddening that the media refuses to do its’ job and accurately report what the Democrats tried to do.

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

I urge you to support the Tim Eyman Legal Defense Fund so Richard can get the AG’s ridiculously unconstitutional ruling overturned.

Please make your most generous donation TODAY!

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)

Thanks to your prayers, friendship, and support, I’ve been able to keep fighting.

I know I’m lucky to have friends like you in my corner.

I love you all.

Onward!

Tim

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

You can email me anytime here: Tim@TimDefense.com
(I can’t access any of my other email addresses — grrr!)

For more details on this, go to: TimDefense.com