I-1098 Would Cut Taxes, Fund Improvements in Health Care and Education
Initiative 1098 offers Washingtonians an opportunity to enact important long-term reforms to our state’s inadequate revenue structure. The measure would reduce taxes for homeowners and small businesses while providing additional resources for education and health care through a new tax on high incomes.
The proposed tax on high incomes would generate some $1.7 billion per year in additional resources for Washington State. The graph below shows how the new revenue would be spent.
As the graph shows, about 45 percent ($766 million) of the revenue would be spent on improvements to Washington’s education system. Another 21 percent ($357 million) would be used to lower property taxes for homeowners and businesses. The remaining revenues would be spent on new funding for health care services ($328 million) and lowering B&O taxes for small businesses ($249 million).
For more information on I-1098 and other measures to appear on the ballot this November, read our latest policy brief, “2010 Initiatives Could Impact Public Services.”
