Leaked!
  • Leaked!
Recently, a Seattle actor—along with many other local actors—got a call for a 30-something, preppy woman to read a script for what appears to be a 30-second television ad that might run against Initiative 1098, Bill Gates Sr.'s effort to tax the filthy rich in Washington State.

When this actor learned what 1098 is about, she decided she didn't want to help the effort to defeat it, and instead leaked the alleged script, titled "Jill," to me. Here's what it says:

Jill :30 TV

Life is tough these days. Lots of people I know are looking for work.

So, why would we want to impose an income tax on the people who are creating the jobs in Washington?

Initiative 1098 would impose an income tax on the job creators.

Our Department of Commerce says businesses locate in Washington because we don't have an income tax.

And maybe that's why no state in America has adopted an income tax in over 20 years.

If we're going to turn our economy around, we need to reward the job creators not punish them.

I'm voting NO on 1098 because I want more jobs in Washington.

Mark Funk, spokesman for the No on 1098 campaign, has not yet returned a call seeking comment on the alleged script. But Sandeep Kaushik, spokesperson for Yes on 1098, was ready to rebut it—even if it never ends up being aired on TV.

“This is a classic trickle-down economics ad," Kaushik said. "They’re saying we shouldn’t ask the rich to pay their fair share and instead should tax working families and the middle class in the hopes that the wealth of the very rich will trickle down. It’s a discredited theory.”

What about the argument that "no state in America has adopted an income tax in over 20 years"? Kaushik said that's because Washington is very late when it comes to instituting even a limited income tax.

“The vast majority of states, forty three, already have an income tax in place and have had them for many years," Kaushik said. "What we are establishing here is an income tax only on the highest earners.”

And the argument that 1098 will "punish" the job creators in this state?

“Businesses locate in Washington for many reasons, including the fact that we have a well-educated and trained workforce," Kaushik said. "And yet we’ve slipped to 44th in the country now in funding education and we’ve continued to decline. Over the long-term, that’s going to do more to damage our economy than anything else. 1098 will provide more than $2 billion a year in funding for education and health-care priorities, including higher education.”