Tax News

CCH (cch.taxgroup.com) reports:

The Washington Supreme Court has rejected a pre-election challenge to the constitutionality of Initiative 960, a measure that would require two-thirds legislative approval or voter approval for tax increases. As a result of the high court's decision, I-960 will appear on the ballot in the November 2007 election.
The court stated that pre-election review of initiative measures was highly disfavored and that it would consider only two types of challenges to an initiative prior to an election: that the initiative does not meet the procedural requirements for placement on the ballot, which was not at issue here, and that the subject matter of the initiative is beyond the people's initiative power. Under I-960, any action that "raises taxes" and results in excess expenditures would be automatically subject to referendum. In addition, any tax increase that was shielded from referendum by an emergency clause in the legislation or by the failure to qualify a referendum for the ballot would require an advisory vote of the people. The plaintiffs maintained that these provisions exceeded the people's legislative power and would be unconstitutional if enacted. The plaintiffs also challenged the supermajority requirement of I-960 on the basis that it would have the unlawful effect of amending the constitution by establishing a supermajority requirement for tax increases not in the constitution.
The court found that neither of these challenges was subject to pre-election review. While the disputed sections of the initiative might be subject to constitutional challenge if passed, the initiative did not exceed the scope of legislative power and therefore could be placed on the general election ballot.
Futurewise v. Reed, Washington Supreme Court, No. 80430-3, September 7, 2007, ¶202-675
Other References:
Explanations at ¶89-054