Voter, educate thyself! State law mandates that the Office of Financial Management (in consultation with other state offices) develop a fiscal impact statement for every statewide ballot initiative. The analysis of Initiative 1098 has just been released — highlights follow, with a link to the complete report below.
Major findings from the OFM report include:
Initiative 1098 will cut taxes for the middle class and small businesses.
- I-1098 will decrease property taxes by $383 million in 2012 (rising to $425 million in 2016) for all Washington property owners, both individuals and businesses, by cutting the state property tax by 20 percent.
- I-1098 will newly exempt 118,000 small businesses from the B&O tax, and provide substantial tax cuts for another 39,000 businesses. Under I-1098, more than 80 percent of businesses in the state will be exempt from the B&O, while another 12 percent will see their taxes reduced.
Initiative 1098 will generate substantial new revenue to restore deep cuts to education and health care.
- In 2013, I-1098 will deliver over $1.1 billion to fund educational priorities like K-12 class size reductions and increased access to higher education, and an additional $474 million for the voter-approved Basic Health Plan, public health and long-term care for seniors.
- The measure will generate more than $2.2 billion annually thereafter, to be deposited in special trust funds for education and health care, respectively.
Initiative 1098′s income tax will affect just 1% of tax filers.
- The OFM analysis finds that I-1098‘s income tax is strictly limited: 98.8% of households will pay no income tax under I-1098.
- Since by law not a penny of income below $400,000 a year for couples will be taxed ($200,000 for individuals), just 38,400 individuals or households — out of 3.2 million — would file a Washington state tax return.
Read the full report from OFM here.
Looking for more information about Initiative 1098? Visit the Economic Opportunity Institute website.
Filed under: tax and budget, budget, I-1098, income tax, revenue, tax reform
So 99% of tax payers will have lower taxes or no change.
The bulk of the tax cuts will go to small businesses.
We know that small business is the primary engine of job creation.
But people are trying to say that this will *hurt* job creation?
Go figger.