Eyman returns with car tab initiative

MOSES LAKE Tim Eyman, the Mulkiteo watchmaker turned anti-tax crusader, is back with yet one more initiative, although this one is not a new one.

Eyman has begun pushing an initiative to roll back any state or local car taxes that make the car tab fee go higher than $30. He has tried twice before, but a phenomenon he terms tab creep, the increase in the fee by means of extra taxes such as those for Sound Transit light-rail project, have kept the fee higher than Eyman s desired watermark.

He has tried twice to keep extra taxes at bay, and twice he has succeeded, first in 1999 with Initiative 695 and then in 2002 with Initiative 776. However, now he is worried that state transportation packages have turned to car tabs as a way to generate money.

Olympia should stop trying to violate the decision of the voters on the $30 tabs, he said in a phone interview. Voters have voted twice for $30 (tabs), chances are they are going to do it again.

And that is just what Eyman intends to do, although this time he is taking his time. He wants to route the proposal through the Legislature first next winter, and if lawmakers ignore it, it will go on the ballot November, 2006

Thirty dollars means thirty dollars, Eyman said. We want to avoid taxes creeping back up.

Eyman said he decided to file early so that by the time election comes around, he has a fine-tuned, battle-tested proposal.

We are trying to make sure they get the initiative they voted for twice, he said.

Eyman is aware that this is not a new idea, and that the initiative of his that is catching the most attention in Olympia these days is not this one but I-900, the one aimed at bringing performance audits at city and county levels of government.

However, Eyman said, Olympia s insistence in raising taxes makes the return of the $30 car tab initiative a necessity.

If Olympia wasn t trying to raise (the tabs) back up again, I would happily move on to other things, he said, adding that it is not acceptable for voters to have to endure further increases on the tabs. He called the increases a form of arrogance.

Eyman has until the end of December, 2005 to gather more than 200,000 signatures.