After Gregoire recently announced that she's changed her position and now wants higher taxes - whatever increases "lawmakers and interest groups" tell her to enact - the need for Initiative 1033 became even more evident. During a recession, raising taxes and increasing the burden on struggling working families, fixed-income senior citizens, and a hurting business community will only make the recession last longer. Gregoire's tax hiking plans will only make a bad situation worse.

Under I-1033, state, county, and city politicians CANNOT raise taxes or fees without voter approval.

Let us say that again: UNDER I-1033, STATE, COUNTY, AND CITY POLITICIANS CANNOT RAISE ANY TAX OR ANY FEE WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL.

Gregoire thinks she can tax us into prosperity and I-1033 stands in her way.

So Gregoire blew a gasket yesterday on I-1033 saying it will 'devastate' the state of Washington. She and the Democrats have done that all by themselves by adopting unsustainable budgets resulting in a $9 billion deficit. As soon as Gregoire became Governor in 2005, it was her top priority to get rid of I-601's inflation-plus-population-growth limit -- the same one resurrected with I-1033 -- that had worked very well for the preceding 12 years, from 1993 through 2005. When they got rid of that growth limit in 2005 and raised taxes too, they put Washington state on a fiscal roller coaster, overextending themselves in the good times -- creating totally unsustainable budgets -- which led directly to making the bad times worse, ending in a $9 billion deficit.

Gregoire needs to look in the mirror and realize that it was her lack of fiscal restraint in her first term that resulted in that fiscal roller coaster and that massive deficit.

But rather than learning from that egregious mistake, she's hell-bent to repeat it.

She's now re-reversed her position on raising taxes -- she's now in favor of whatever "lawmakers and interest groups" tell her to increase. Higher sales taxes, property taxes, utility taxes, business taxes, and a state income tax -- Gregoire's open to all of them. I-1033 is necessary exactly because without the citizens restraining them, Gregoire and the Democrats have shown themselves incapable of restraining themselves.

I-601 worked very well for 12 years, Gregoire and the Democrats nearly destroyed Olympia without it in four years.

Voters support bringing back I-601's fiscal discipline by resurrecting the same growth limit with I-1033. And voters support the 'safety valve' that I-601 has and I-1033 has which says if government thinks the automatic increase provided by I-1033 isn't a big enough increase, they can go to the voters and ask for more.

Democrat Jim McIntire, longtime advocate for a state income tax and now the state treasurer, warns us yesterday that I-1033 "could" lower our state's bond rating. Again, Gregoire and the Democrats fiscal irresponsibility over the past five years did that already. Frankly, voters approving I-1033 will send a clear message that the state, counties, and cities must have fiscal discipline, stability, and sustainability that will be very well received by anyone doing business with Washington.

McIntire knows that I-1033's passage will diminish his long-time dream of a state income tax. It's not any more complicated than that.

There is a state law that prohibits tax dollars from being spent by governments to oppose a ballot measure. Nonetheless, city councils and county councils in recent weeks are clearly violating that law with formal 'resolutions' coming out against I-1033. We'd be more upset about it if we thought they were working -- but frankly, their efforts are clearly backfiring. Besides, the No campaign has millions of Washington DC's dirty dollars from the country's most powerful government unions (NEA, SEIU, AFSCME, etc) -- the taxpayers shouldn't be forced to subsidize their opposition campaign.