Politicians must not misread election results and vote to increase taxes

• Published November 23, 2009

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Jack Fagan, Mike Fagan and I cosponsored Initiative 1033 and worked hard for the past year advocating for it because we firmly believe in its policies and thought a lot of citizens supported it too. That was proven true: Over 315,000 citizens signed petitions and, at last count, over 721,000 voted for it. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough.

I-1033 had three goals: � Put government growth on a sustainable path by bringing back Initiative 601�s growth formula of inflationplus-population growth. � Substantially lower our property tax burden. � Deter tax increases by extending I-960�s two-thirds legislative approval for raising taxes policy.

Eleven months after filing I-1033, we heard the verdict: a majority of voters decided they weren�t supportive of I-1033�s combination of all three. We will learn from this experience and come back next year with an initiative that addresses the concerns raised by constructive critics of I-1033.

This is not unusual. Over the past 12 years, we�ve often made several attempts on a broad array of issues: lowering car tab taxes (four attempts), limiting property taxes (four attempts), renewing I-601�s fiscal policies (three attempts), improving transportation (two attempts), empowering the state auditor to conduct performance audits of government, protecting the initiative process, and others. Some of these efforts were successful, some weren�t.

This also is not unusual. Winning some and losing some is what happens in politics, in business, in relationships, and in life.

But in every initiative effort, the people, the politicians, and the process have benefited from the debate. An active, engaged citizenry is absolutely essential to encourage elected officials to be more responsive to the people. Government is the most dangerous when officials don�t think the public is watching. Initiatives put a very bright spotlight on government and allow the average taxpayer a greater voice in the process.

Our greatest concern is that the Legislature will say that I-1033�s election outcome was actually the people endorsing the idea of higher taxes. Doing so would be a serious mistake. Several in the media agree:

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