Eyman seeks to harden car-tab limits

True to his word on Election Night, Mukilteo watch dealer Tim Eyman and three Eastern Washington supporters are about to launch another tax-limiting citizens' initiative.

The new measure, a follow-up to 1999's Initiative 695, would freeze annual car tab fees at $30 a year unless voters OK more. That would slash millions of dollars from mass-transit programs, the state Department of Licensing and several county governments.

"Thirty dollar car tabs" was the rallying cry for I-695, which voters approved, only to see the measure ruled unconstitutional in a Superior Courtroom in Olympia. The Legislature, citing voter intent, subsequently passed a law dropping the fees to $30.

But a dispute has sprung up over whether that law included the roughly one-third of the tax that went to some local transit agencies. If those agencies win a pending ruling in the state Supreme Court, car tabs could rise to more than $100 a year for high-end vehicles.

Also, the Legislature is fishing around for ways to pay for a multi-billion-dollar list of badly needed transportation projects. Eyman and his backers worry that their hard-won $30 rate could start rising.

Some of that's already happened. On top of the $30, for example, there's a $3 filing fee. And a 50-cent fee that goes to replace Department of Licensing equipment. Add another $3.50 paid to a store if the transaction's done there, rather than at the licensing office. And drivers in four Central and Western Washington counties also pay a $15 fee intended to replace some of the money the initiative stripped away.

The new measure would attempt to put a firewall around that $30 fee.

Spokane's Jack Fagan, a co-sponsor of Eyman's last three initiatives, compares the situation to an infantry unit capturing a hill.

"What do you do: dig in, or go back down the hill?" he said. "You dig in. That's what we're trying to do - protect what we've already won.

"We're trying to send a message that we're not going to stand by while you stick us with all sorts of taxes," Fagan said. "We don't have endless deep pockets."

Any increases would then have to be approved by voters.

"It's basically holding the government's feet to the fire," said Mike Fagan, who like his father, Jack, intends to sign on as co- sponsor to this latest measure. "Taxpayers - we're definitely feeling the heat."

The measure also would slash funding for Sound Transit, a light- rail project that Seattle-area voters approved five years ago. The change would cost the agency about $56million a year.

"How does it help our transportation problems to bring Sound Transit to its knees?" said Dave Earling, president of Sound Transit's board.

Eyman maintains that Sound Transit's project has changed so dramatically that it no longer resembles what voters approved.

"They voted for red and they got blue," he said. "A lot of people view that thing as just this train to nowhere."

Eyman and most of his initiatives have been blasted by public- employee unions, newspaper editorial pages, business groups and government officials, many of whom say taxes aren't nearly as bad as Eyman claims.

Voters tend to vote their wallets, government officials say, without regard to worthwhile public programs that may be slashed as a result. The unsuccessful campaign against Eyman's latest measure, Initiative 747, focused on the likelihood of cuts to firefighters and emergency medical teams.

"We're taking away revenue and not giving anybody an indication of where we don't want services now," said Marty Brown, budget director for Gov. Gary Locke.

He compared recent state budget cuts to the kind of things a homeowner would face.

"We've pretty much gotten rid of the cable TV and the online Internet stuff at home," he said. "We're starting to get down to heat and lights."

Eyman said he intends to file the initiative with the Secretary of State's Office Tuesday. It will then be reviewed by attorneys, who will draft a final version to be submitted in January. Eyman is hoping to be the first out of the gate, which would make the measure Initiative 776.

The new initiative would be the seventh Eyman has worked on, and the fourth from Permanent Offense, the ballot measure organization he runs out of his home in Mukilteo. Three of his last four initiatives have passed.

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