I sincerely hope that the citizens of Washington state look closely at the realistic ramifications of any income tax referendum they may vote on this year.

1) Even if the politicians and bureaucrats promise that the income tax will be kept at a limited, discriminatory level, other states’ experiences have shown that it becomes a piggy bank, resulting in broader applications and higher rates as time and populistic partisanship marches on.

2) It relieves the politicians from exercising good management practices that require knowledge and hard decisions such as rationalizing state organizations; exercising more accountability by removing non-performing state employees; rationing free services to what we can afford; bringing government pensions and benefits back into line; and charging more realistic (higher rates) for services and college tuitions. With an income tax, the politicians will always have an easy out via the taxpayers’ shoulders.

3) No matter what anyone says, I believe that business owners and wealthy individuals will reduce investments in Washington and accelerate their plans to move out of state before our extremely high “death tax” gets their families. Just ask the Venezuelans if wealth redistribution works?

4) The property and sales taxes may not go down by the amount the income tax goes up.

5) Our companies and educational institutions may find it more difficult to recruit high caliber employees. I always offered jobs in August when I could point to the sunshine, lakes and lack of a state income tax.

Reengineering a tax base may sometimes make sense, however, I do not trust the motives of the politicians and headline grabbers in this case, especially the ones with law degrees lacking the experience of running a business for profit.

Harvey Gillis, Bellevue