The Gates of Confiscation

To win votes, the ballot measure resorts to all sorts of trickery. Unions describe the initiative as tax "relief" because it includes a mandatory cut in the hated property tax (only by 4%) and it eliminates various unpopular fees and taxes on business. Still, the overall impact of the measure is a $1.5 billion tax increase in 2012 and $2.5 billion a year by 2016. Small business taxes are cut, but they are also hit with a whopper of a new tax: a personal income tax paid out of their profits. Over half of the tax will be paid by Washington businesses.

The biggest deception is the description of the new income tax as "an excise tax on income."