Eyman To File $30 Car Tab Initiative Tuesday

SPOKANE, WA - Tim Eyman appears to see an opportunity. The professional initiative filer plans to deliver a ballot initiative Tuesday to the Legislature that would lower car tab fees to $30 statewide. The initiative is a response to recent outrage over rising car tabs due to local levies, Sound Transit 3 in the Puget Sound area in particular.

I-947 would set car tabs at a base of $30 for vehicles under 10,000 pounds. The initiative would also require the state to use Kelley Blue Book to set values for car taxes.

The initiative won't be on the November ballot. Eyman will have to collect about 130,000 signatures before the end of 2017. If he succeeds, the Legislature could either pass the measure or pass it to voters for approval or disapproval.

Eyman plans to hold a press conference about the initiative Tuesday. Seattle's KUOW first reported on the details of the initiative on Monday night.

I-947 is being funded by the Spokane-based group Voters Want More Choices, whose top contributors include the Puget Sound National Electrical Contractors Association ($10,000); Seattle manufacturer GM Nameplate ($1,000); and a group called Puget Sound Security ($2,499). Eyman and initiative partners Jack and Mike Fagan run the group.

But the biggest contributor to Voters Want More Choices - $25,140 - is the political committee We Love Our Cars-VWMC-2017. That committee - and Eyman - was sued in 2016 by Attorney General Bob Ferguson over campaign finance violations.

Image via state of Washington