On Tuesday, Spokane voters decided on two ballot measures - put forward by the group Better Spokane - that reflected long-time Washington Policy Center recommendations.  Overwhelmingly voters agreed with WPC’s stance against local income taxes and in favor of WPC’s recommendation for transparency in government collective bargaining negotiations. Spokane’s Proposition 1 to open government collective bargaining negotiations to the public is currently passing with more than 78 percent of the vote, while Spokane’s Proposition 2, which will ban local income taxes, is passing with just under 73 percent.

“Washington state faces a strong effort to implement an income tax on capital gains in the next legislative session,” said Chris Cargill, WPC’s Eastern Washington Director.  “Make no mistake, voters in the state’s second largest city just sent a loud message to legislators across the state – we don’t want any income taxes in our state.”

Washington Policy Center President Dann Mead Smith commended Spokane voters’ rejection of income taxes and added that the collective bargaining transparency vote is equally significant. “Spokane voters just put a punctuation point on decades of statewide votes in which Washington voters said no to any form of an income tax,” said Mead Smith. “But also significant is that voters are demanding transparency in collective bargaining negotiations.  Some of the biggest expenditures of taxpayer money are decided behind closed doors. Spokane’s vote sends a message that the old way of doing business, with government officials and public sector unions negotiating in secret over taxpayer dollars, needs to change.”

Washington Policy Center published Citizens’ Guides on both Prop. 1 and Prop. 2.