City income tax or local initiative cannot be implemented

Having read the draft ordinance and the local initiative, my analysis follow:

The Internal Revenue Code, specifically 26 US Code 6103 (a) states that federal income tax return information is confidential “except as provided...” Section 5 of 6103 specifically eliminates municipalities like Olympia from the “except as provided” list.

This fact leaves both the city’s draft initiative as well as the local initiative in the following states: un-implementable, un-collectable, and most importantly, unenforceable. (e.g Although the draft ordinance prescribes a penalty for noncompliance which the local initiative does not, the city would have to illegally acquire and possess the information necessary to assess such a penalty.)

Thus, in both cases, the draft ordinance and the pending local initiative are reduced to essentially “Opt In” or as I prefer “Opt Out” taxes due their unenforceability. Perhaps a more feasible way to implement this style of “tax”, cheaper certainly, which maintains the community spirit of both the draft ordinance and the local initiative would be to simply add a check box to the monthly utility bills with the verbage (or its like) “I enclose with my remittance X number dollars designated for the Opportunity For Olympia Fund.”

People who truly believe in the effort may give as they deem fit while those of us who believe this effort is wrong-headed and confiscatory may simply abstain. At years end, you could tote up your dollars and make awards to the highest academic performers, regardless of their background.

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 7:42 PM with the headline "City income tax or local initiative cannot be implemented."