Six initiatives were delivered to the legislature, meeting the deadline in December 2023. Of the six, WR has an interest in the following four:

I-2124 would repeal the unfair, ill-fated, and poorly crafted long-term care program.

The poorly designed and implemented long-term care tax is all but guaranteed for failure. Few will see benefits, and many will pay into a system and never receive a benefit. Retailers and their employees are being unfairly taxed.

I-2109 would repeal the expensive, unfair, and unconstitutional capital gains tax.

The capital gains tax was wrong and unconstitutional when it was approved by the legislature and governor. This unnecessary tax hurts smaller retailers, in particular, that have invested so much of their time and energy building up their businesses.

I-2113 would allow law enforcement to pursue property criminals in their vehicles. How does this impact Washington Retailers?

Retail thieves know that under current Washington state law they will not be chased. The legislature wrongly set up this standard and needs to reverse it. We are the only state in the country where this is the case.

I-2117 would reduce the expensive carbon tax which is leading to huge increases in fuel prices.

 

WR supports all four of these initiatives. The legislature should adopt them all. If they don’t, WR will be encouraging voters to vote for them at the ballot box in the November general election.