Published October 24, 2006 

I-920 short-changes kids, shifts tax burden

Which would you choose - commotion or concentration, struggle or success, a job or a career? As a public school teacher, I know which I would choose for my students.

I'd wish for smaller classes - instead of 33 squirrelly kindergartners vying for attention, only 19, the difference between chronic crisis management and meaningful teaching.

I'd wish for improved instruction - programs for students struggling with math, reading and science, the difference between failing and passing.

I'd wish for expanded opportunities - more enrollment slots in our public universities and community colleges, and more financial aid for students, the difference between a hope and a future.

Thanks to recent legislation, this isn't just a wish list. It's a reality made possible by the estate tax.

Last year the Legislature modified our modest tax on the transfer of multimillion-dollar estates, aligning it with changes in the federal tax code. They made sure middle-class families were exempted, while dedicating the $100 million annual revenue to critical education needs.

Washington's estate tax affects only the wealthiest of heirs, who can easily afford it. With the tax-free exemption level raised to $2 million for individuals (or $4 million for couples), fewer than 250 estates a year pay anything - and even those, on average, pay less than 5 percent of estate value.

Unfortunately, a few people believe they shouldn't have to pay their fair share. Led by multimillionaire Martin Selig, they're bankrolling Initiative 920, an effort to repeal the tax, even if it means cutting education for our kids or shifting the tax burden onto middle-class families.

To confuse the public into supporting their goal, I-920 proponents distort the facts, or set them aside in favor of emotional appeals.

They call the tax "class warfare," even though some of our most respected civic and business leaders, like Bill Gates Sr. and his son, the chairman of Microsoft and the world's wealthiest man, believe our estate tax is a fair and reasonable way for the wealthy to give back to society, a society that has fostered their success.

Proponents claim that the estate tax is a death tax without ever revealing that 99.5 percent of estates owe nothing. They call it a double tax, despite the fact that we have neither an income tax nor a capital gains tax, so most wealth in these large estates has never been taxed before.

They insinuate that the tax hurts farms, even though in Washington, family farms are completely exempt. They endlessly assert that the tax hurts small business, even though they know full well that, out of 460,000 tax-paying businesses across the state, only 35 a year owe anything, and the handful of owners who might have trouble paying their tax bill get 15 years to pay.

The truth is that Washington's estate tax, which has been around in one form or another since 1901, is a modest, reasonable tax that affects few, but benefits so many kids. This Nov. 7, vote for smaller classes, for improved instruction, for expanded opportunities. This Nov. 7, vote "no" on 920.

Jim Anderson is an English teacher at Capital High School.