Jim Vaughn, a retired military officer who decided to run for Congress (in the 8th District) last year, is now prime sponsor of a pair of initiatives to the people.

The first, I-1044, seeks to replace the business and occupation tax with a flat rate corporate tax not to exceed 5% (national average is 6.6%).

The second, I-1045, provides every resident in the State of Washington with full medical coverage.

Vaughn got his feet wet in the political arena last year running against Darcy Burner in the Democratic primary. He lost. And Burner lost to incumbent U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert. But Vaughn met a lot of people.

Now, he's jumping with both feet into Tim Eyman country, and he may need to get a few pointers from the Pro. He did OK on the first part: He named his group Citizens for Economic Stimulus in Washington. Not real catchy, but topical.

On the other hand, ask Eyman what it's like to try to finance and collect 300,000 signature on 2 initiatives at the same time.

I would like to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Jim Vaughn and I am a former military officer that now has a staffing service focused on assisting our veterans obtain employment. Priority going to service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. Given the state of our country and economy I decided to get involved.

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When the US Supreme Court ruled the Top Two Primary constitutional, I ran for US Congress in the 8th Congressional District. With only three months to campaign, I knew I was a long shot. I ran as a Blue Dog Democrat to be a voice to the moderate to conservative voters. The Blue Dog Coalition states,” The Blue Dogs are dedicated to a core set of beliefs that transcend partisan politics, including a deep commitment to the financial stability and national security of the United States.” I came in third out of six candidates in the primary and joined Dave Reichert’s campaign. http://democratsfordave.com/ Since then I have created an organization called Citizens for Economic Stimulus in Washington.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Citizens for Economic Stimulus in Washington, have filed two initiatives that we believe will help the economy and the residents of Washington. We are seeking individuals to assist us in obtaining the required signatures and funding.

http://www.secstate.wa.gov/elections/initiatives/people.aspx?y=2009

The first I-1044 seeks to replace the B&O Tax with a flat rate corporate tax not to exceed 5% (national average is 6.6%).

Website is http://home.comcast.net/~businessandoccupationtax/site/?/home/

The second I-1045 provides every resident in the State of Washington with full medical coverage.

Website is http://home.comcast.net/~healthcareinitiative/site/?/blog/

Key Points for Implementing these initiatives are as follows:

B&O TAX PROBLEMS – WHAT YOU MAY OR MAY NOT KNOW

The Washington State Research Counsel states, that: "No sensible case can be made for imposing gross receipts taxes in the modern economic environment. The old turnover taxes, typically adopted as desperate measures in fiscal crisis, were replaced with taxes that created fewer economic problems. Gross receipts taxes should never be seen as an element of positive tax reform. They were abandoned for good reason. One reason for the high tax burden placed on business in Washington is the business and occupation tax. This is a truly unique aspect of the Washington tax system and is the most significant gross receipts tax remaining in the nation."

State officials also have to be cognizant of the fact that they are not only competing against each other for investment and jobs, but against the rest of the world. The emerging low-tax countries in Europe and Asia benefit from the United States remaining a high-tax country. In the past two months, at least six countries have announced plans to cut their corporate tax rates: Canada, Hong Kong, Korea, South Africa, Spain, and Taiwan. In an interview in the Korea Times, Choi Kyung-hwan, a member of the new administration's presidential transition committee, said: "The corporate income tax reduction is not a matter of choice, but a matter of life and death for Korea in an increasingly globalized business environment."

The major concerns regarding the business and occupation tax, otherwise known as a gross receipts tax, are that the business and occupation tax is:

· A tax on all gross revenues incurred by a business, not just the profits;

· A stealth tax which is hidden from the consumer; and

· A tax on a business whether they make a profit or not.

· RCW 19.275.030 states that no person may establish, promote, operate, or participate in any pyramid scheme and yet our business and occupation tax is a pyramid tax. The business and occupation tax is imposed on each stage of the service or product and creates a pyramid effect which is in turn passed on to the consumer.

There are only four states that have a gross receipts tax. Below is a comparison of the states that have a gross receipts tax:

(a) Delaware: Retail can deduct eighty thousand dollars per month. Manufacturers can deduct one million dollars per month.

(b) Kentucky: Business can choose between gross receipts and gross profits. Business under three million dollars is exempt.

(c) Ohio: Business under one hundred fifty thousand dollars is exempt and those businesses with receipts between one hundred fifty thousand dollars and one million dollars pay one hundred fifty dollars.

(d) Washington: The worst tax of all four gross receipts tax states. Business under twenty-eight thousand dollars is exempt.

In order for the state of Washington to economically compete in the global market, we need to revive manufacturing and business. In order to do this we must eliminate the business and occupation tax, which discourages capital investment by our businesses and discourages purchases of capital equipment that are directly related to growth. This is not a good strategy for economic growth and development.

AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE IS NOT AN OPTION

Currently, we are paying for four types of medical coverage which are:

(i) Medicare.

(ii) Medicaid.

(iii) Workers' compensation.

(iv) Private or personal medical insurance.

By seeking to combine medicare, medicaid, workers' compensation, and private medical insurance into one agency, governmental bureaucracy and overhead is reduced. In addition, we eliminate the private insurance companies that seek to deny claims and cap medical claims in the interest of profit. With this system, people continue to choose their physicians, doctors' clinics, and hospitals as they always have. The major difference is the billing process. Creation of a health care system in which all the citizens of Washington state are insured through the state will provide adequate and affordable health care for our residents.

Affordable health care is possible. Not only is it possible, this affordable health care program will save Washington state corporations millions of dollars each year. We are competing in a global society and, as it is right now, businesses are at an economic disadvantage, because their health costs are so much higher than in other countries. With the current sad state of the economy, and the need to be competitive in the global economy, this could be a tremendous boost to the industries of Washington state. Health care spending continues to grow much faster than the economy, and efforts to control health care costs and the growth of health care spending have been unsuccessful. On average, the United States spends more than twice as much as all other industrial nations on health care, both per person and as a percentage of its gross domestic product.

Consumers can no longer rely on traditional health care coverage due to a continuous decline of employer-offered coverage, unstable employment trends, and uncontrolled increases in the amount of premiums and cost sharing, and increases in benefit gaps. As a result, one-half of all bankruptcies in the United States

now relate to medical costs, though three-fourths of bankrupted families had health care coverage at the time of sustaining the injury or illness.

Health insurance companies have no business motive to provide comprehensive and affordable health care coverage to residents who are likely to require health care services, including seniors, disabled residents, residents with or at risk of developing a chronic illness, and women of child-bearing age. Health care quality is rapidly declining, and the United States institute of medicine has declared an epidemic of substandard health care throughout the nation. The world health organization ranks the United States below all other industrial nations and 37th overall in population-based health outcomes.

Inadequate access to a regular source of care has caused uninsured patients to seek treatment in emergency facilities for conditions that could have been treated more appropriately in a nonemergency setting. Emergency departments and trauma centers face growing financial losses, and uncompensated hospital care. The burden for providing uncompensated care falls disproportionately on a minority of hospitals in Washington and leads to significant financial instability for the overall health care system.

Multiple quantitative analyses indicate that, under a single payer health insurance system, the amount currently spent for health care is more than adequate to finance comprehensive high-quality health care coverage for every resident of the state while guaranteeing the right of every resident to choose his or her own physician. By simplifying administration, achieving bulk purchase discounts on pharmaceuticals, reducing the use of emergency facilities for primary care, and carefully managing health care capital investment, Washington could divert billions of dollars toward providing direct health care and improve the quality of, and access to, that care.

Join Citizens to Replace the B&O Tax: for contributions, please make checks payable to:

Citizens to Replace the B&O Tax,
14416 168th Street, Orting, WA 98360

Join Citizens for Affordable Healthcare: for contributions, please make checks payable to:

Citizens for Affordable Healthcare
14416 168th Street, Orting, WA 98360

If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 253.241.9634

Jim Vaughn