On election day, voters will decide the fate of Initiative 1631, which, in the name of greenhouse gas reduction, imposes a never-ending tax increase on those least able to afford it.<\/p>\n
I’m voting no. And I hope you will join me. I have spent years of my adult life involved in government — on the Renton City Council; and, as president at different times of both the Puget Sound Regional Council and Port of Seattle board of commissioners — and I know how special interests behave when they see a pot of money. And I-1631 is a multi-billion dollar pot of tax dollars that will come right out of your pockets.<\/p>\n
Climate policy is too important to be decided in an initiative written by the very people who end up controlling the purse strings. I-1631 will:<\/p>\n
• Sequester $30 billion in 15 years, money that might be better used elsewhere;<\/p>\n
• Have a total net cost increase of $440 a year for Washington households, increasing every year after that;<\/p>\n
• Cause the loss of thousands of jobs; and,<\/p>\n
• Leave 93 percent of carbon emissions untouched.<\/p>\n
That’s why a new study by NERA Economic Consulting — the only independent, private analysis of I-1631 by either side — is so compelling. It makes a very strong case that this measure is not the right step to address climate change. I firmly believe that climate change is a real threat, and we need to do something that will seriously address our part.<\/p>\n
The NERA analysis says the total net cost per household is projected to be $440 in 2020, the first year under I-1631, increasing to $990 per household by 2035.<\/p>\n
Assuming that all of the money collected under I-1631 will be spent on clean energy and reducing emissions, NERA’s analysis finds that after 15 years and $30 billion in new taxes, the state will not reach its emission reduction goals and we will leave 93 percent of Washington’s greenhouse gas emissions untouched. Even in a best case scenario, I-1631 will have no impact on climate change — here in Washington or in the country. NERA isn’t alone in these conclusions.<\/p>\n
Here are two other important voices you can trust: Professor Cliff Mass, a well-known University of Washington climatologist; and, Brian Sonntag, our state’s highly regarded retired state auditor. They have deep concerns over who makes the spending decisions . They urge that this initiative be defeated. Both signed the No on I-1631 statement in the Washington State Voters Guide.<\/p>\n
Mass writes in his blog: “Instead of explicitly dedicating carbon fee funding to important climate-related needs, I-1631 hands the responsibility of distributing the cash to a 15-member oversight board including five WA state department heads and 10 appointed (by the Governor) individuals.” Nor do initiative supporters have a spending plan, the professor points out.<\/p>\n
Lately some of my friends are saying about climate change: “We’ve got to do something.” And we do. First, vote down this very poorly written initiative. Second, demand that our state Legislature come up with a plan that works for everybody. Not just the special interests who wrote the initiative.<\/p>\n
I-1631 is a costly, unfair and ineffective tax that costs too much, in return for too little benefit, if any at all, for the environment.<\/p>\n
I’m voting no on I-1631.<\/p>\n
Bob Edwards<\/strong><\/p>\n Former Renton City <\/strong>Council Member<\/strong><\/p>\n Bellevue<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On election day, voters will decide the fate of Initiative 1631, which, in the name of greenhouse gas reduction, imposes...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":26663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,8],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26662"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26662"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rentonnews.us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=26662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}