Voter-Approved Taxpayer Protection Gone for Now - Economy Shows Signs of Weakness

Yesterday Gov. Gregoire signed legislation temporarily suspending the I-960 supermajority requirement for tax increases.

The initiative, approved by voters in 2007, requires two-thirds approval from legislators to raise taxes - a significant hurdle compared with the simple majority needed to pass other measures. The bill signed by Gregoire would pause most of the initiative's provisions until July 2011, when the next two-year budget cycle begins.

As the Times reports, some stuff remains.

The measure doesn't suspend all of the initiative: e-mail notifications sent to the public about proposed tax increases, including 10-year cost projections of the measures, will continue. However, the requirement of a nonbinding advisory vote by the public on taxes passed by the Legislature is suspended until July 2011. Also suspended was listing how lawmakers voted on taxes in the voter pamphlet sent out before elections.

Republicans had asked Gregoire to veto the section of the measure that suspends the public advisory vote on tax increases, but Gregoire signed the measure as it was passed by the Legislature.

The Washington Policy Center thinks it shouldn't be so easy to overturn the will of the voters.

Now, taxes can be passed with a simple majority. Senate Democrats are ready to roll. In the House, they're still working on it. 

All this occurs as evidence that unemployment continues to rise. Calculated Risk notes another uptick in initial unemployment claims.

The four-week average of weekly unemployment claims increased this week by 6,000 to 473,750.

The current level of 496,000 (and 4-week average of 473,750) are very high and suggest continuing job losses in February. This is the highest level since last November.

Also on Calculated Risk, a bleak economic report from the head of the Cleveland Fed, Sandra Pianalto.

Our current problem is a lack of job openings. In fact, the job-finding rate now stands at a historic low. Businesses are not creating new jobs very quickly, and where labor utilization is picking up, employers are simply restoring hours that had been previously cut.
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So, to sum up, while we are likely now in a period of recovery, it doesn't really feel much like one.

Employers want to put people back to work. Increasing costs will continue to frustrate job creation.