BEWARE INITIATIVE 769

The Clean Water Investment Act

This is a Tax initiative floated as a chance to buy our way out of water woes.  The Clean Water Investment Act (Initiative 769) would issue $1 Billion in bonds that would be paid for with a 1% statewide sales tax.  The money would support a vast array of water projects for municipal supply, farmers and fish, given that three-fourths of the generated money would go to rural areas.

What they forgot to mention in their promotional advertising is: this tax would be in effect for 25 years.  This tax would apply to all (including food) retail sales.  The money generated from this tax and bond issue would be used to acquire (government ownership) current valid water rights, acquire (government ownership) drinking water treatment, conservation, and distribution facilities including equipment, utilities, structures, and real property (private property), acquire irrigation facilities, acquire streamside property from farmers.

What this initiative really does is tax the people and uses the people's money to implement total government control of water and its distribution.

Proponents need 240,000 signatures by July 6 to get this on the fall ballot.  I'm not going to sign it, are you?  Do we really want our water totally controlled by a government entity?  Isn't that communism/socialism – government ownership, management, or control of the means of production and the distribution and exchange of goods, in this case water?  Think about it! 

Sharon Shumate

Republic, WA