Comments on Oh, and Eyman Says...

Also pretend is Eyman's ignorance of the meaning of the term 'rim job.'

Now it's my nausea.

I think Eyman and Mars Hill asswipe Marc Driscoll know EXACTLY what a rim job means. Together.

As a homeowner, I appreciate Eyman's efforts in tapping the brakes on property tax hikes.

Now, after reading Josh's earlier post. I hereby modify my sentiment in favor of that 'circuit breaker' proposal.

As a homeowner and resident of Seattle, I deplore Eyman's efforts to pander to selfish citizens at the expense of our infrastructure and education.

See how that works?

@4 I'm a homeowner too, but I realize and appreciate the benefits of living in a high tax/high service area. I grew up in New Mexico, which has far lower taxation, and consequently, far fewer public services, and far, far less prosperity. People who are in need of help do not receive it, and sink, the state only intervening to put them in jail or a mental institution.

In Seattle, yeah, we have higher taxes. We also spend that money on vital services, have mass transit, programs to intervene in the lives of children before they're irreparably damaged, and lots of other good stuff to help people toward independence and productivity. Consequently, we have more prosperity. Remember, if you don't like it, you can always move to Mississippi.

@7:
"Mass Transit"?????????

At least it's warm in Mississippi...

One of the things that has annoyed me the most about the outrage regarding property taxes has been when people complain that their property taxes have been going through the roof the past several years, when a huge reason for that has been due to the sky rocketing housing market doubling the value of properties in many cases in just the past 8 years. So, duh, that's going to affect your taxes when no type of homestead exemption or circuit breaker is in place. Don't blame local governments because your home is worth twice as much today than it was in 2000.

If these people had any brains they'd be screaming for a homestead exemption or circuit breaker that would do far more for them than a "1% cap" solution that doesn't address the valuation of homes going through the roof.

It needs to be said at least once in each thread like this that renters also pay property tax, not just home owners.

The only good Eyman is a drafted Eyman serving two back-to-back combat tours in Iran, dying for his Fuhrer.

Time to resurrect the Eyman voodoo doll. I'm not sure there's anywhere left to brutalize....
And @8 - I can't wait until the trains start running (2009) so people can stop whining about not having mass transit around here. When you FINALLY vote to approve it (Prop 1, anyone?), it kinda takes a little while to build.

@9: but we didn't MAKE our property increase in value, the FAKE market did. and until we decide to sell (and we're happy in our tiny house), the property tax increases FAR exceed wage escalation.

our house has TRIPLED in assessed value in the last 10 years, despite having a mcmansion built in our view.

washington's tax structure is ridiculous. we need a graduated state income tax.

@ #10 I totally agree with you. The cost of any increase will be passed on to the renter. If one wonders why rents keep going up, just look around you at ALL the services property taxes provide.

So did Eyman say anything else after "property taxes would be much higher" ? Because if he didn't, which I suspect is the case, then he's just another slogan-spewing nimrod like Grover Norquist.

@10 & 14, that is very true! I get my rent increased EVERY time my lease is up, and EVERY time (and it's different landlords!) they tell me it's because "property taxes are going up." Property taxes are NOT going up $100 a month, assholes, so really I'm paying higher taxes AND lining my landlords pockets more. Look, it's capitalism, I get it, you need to make a profit. Just don't fucking tell me it's taxes, when there is a fucking cap on taxes.

From: Tim Eyman, I-747 co-sponsor

All credit for what happened in Olympia yesterday goes to the citizens.

Voter pressure put on legislators over the past three weeks (and frankly over the past 10 years) made the difference. Nothing like having 5 state supreme justices calling the people stupid to motivate and galvinize the support of the 58% of the people who approved I-747 (and a whole lot of the 42% who voted no but who have come to rely on its taxpayer protections). It was a huge 200,000 vote margin. Under the court's theory, then, 100,000 voters voted yes, but 'mistakenly' voted yes (because of some magical hypnotism or voodoo, i suppose) when they would have voted no if only they had known 'the truth'. Unbelievably absurd.

As for Adam Kline, he is fantastic. The media loves conflict and he and I provide lots of it. But the reality is that when he looks at me, he gets angry because he sees himself. Same aggressiveness, bombacity, and media whorishness. Different political philosophy, sure (he wants government to have 100% of taxpayers' paychecks), but the tactics are identical. No, don't think for a second that I don't like and appreciate him and accept him as he is. What's not to admire about his aggressiveness and yes, rudeness -- civility is overrated. He believes in what he's doing and he's working the press to get his message to the people. It's the challenge we all face when dealing with a manytimes lazy press.

The problem is that his philosophy didn't have the support of the people (58%), his colleagues in the state house (91%) nor his colleagues in the senate (81%). Every Republican and probably 80% of elected Democrats, including tax-hiking Democrat Gregoire, voted against his philosophy.

I didn't call the special session, Democrat Governor Gregoire did. I didn't write the bill, his Democrat colleagues did. I didn't vote for their bill, his Democrat colleagues did. He called me names, but the reality is he really wanted to call Gregoire and his Democrat colleagues those names but that'd hurt his own party so he does some gratuitous Eyman-bashing to try to keep the D's base energized. Not a bad strategy if you think your base is stupid and won't recognize the hollowness of his tactic. But again, he's playing with the cards he's been dealt and making the best of it.