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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Spin Control

What’s missing from this commercial?

Labor Day weekend is often the point when campaigns kick into high gear with television commercials, and seveal initiative campaigns did so this year.

Among them was a television spot in favor of Initiative 1098, which would make some significant changes in state tax law. That is to say it would impose an income tax on people making more than $200,000 a year, or couples making more than $400,000 a year.

Missing from the commercial, however, is any use of the phrase "income tax." It talks about removing the business and occupation tax for some operations and lowering overall taxes for many people. But the I-T phrase doesn't come up.


Opponents say that's a significant omission. They have a new radio ad, which uses the phrase "income tax" at least six times.


So are the Yes on 1098 folks trying to hide the fact that? No, says spokesman Sandeep Kaushik. "We think that's one of the things people know about 1098. What a lot of people don't know about 1098 is the benefits. The point of the ad is to inform the people about the benefits."

How one gets those benefits, however, is by placing an income tax on the so-called "high earners."

To see the commercial and judge for yourself, go inside the blog.



The Spokesman-Review's political team keeps a critical eye on local, state and national politics.