Gates Puts a Half-Million Dollars Into Income Tax Campaign

Puts Own Money Behind Income Tax Initiative – $12.9 Million Raised so Far for Ballot Measures

Gates speaks with reporters July 1 as the I-1098 campaign turns in signatures.

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Aug. 6.—Bill Gates, Sr., father of that Bill Gates, has put an even half-million dollars into the campaign for a state income tax, Initiative 1098, the latest Public Disclosure Commission records show.

            That’s the biggest donation from a single person for an initiative this year, though it’s not a record. And it rivals the donations from the big corporate interests that have swelled the war-chests of the state’s six big initiative campaigns this year. The fund-raising records show that nearly $2.5 million has been raised since the campaigns turned in their signatures on July 2, for a total $12.9 million.

            The campaign contribution shows Gates is putting his money where his mouth is. The father of the software mogul has been the public face of the campaign for a high-earner income tax. But until now his early contribution of $100,000 was overshadowed by contributions from public-employee labor unions, particularly the Service Employees International Union, which provided the ground troops that helped collect signatures.

            The additional contribution of $400,000 was made July 22 and showed up in the fund-raising records this week. It makes him by far the largest contributor to the campaign, which so far has raised $1.7 million.
            Fund-raising for the I-1098 has followed an interesting pattern. While about $570,000 comes from public employee unions that stand to benefit if an income tax is passed, the remainder comes primarily from large donations from wealthy individuals. Gates is by far the largest of those. 

            Gates was chairman of a blue-ribbon panel on taxation in 2002 that recommended an income tax, and he has campaigned in favor of estate taxes in the past. He lists his occupation as co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the philanthropic foundation launched by his son, the co-founder of Microsoft.

            His backing for the initiative has set more than a few tounges a-wagging, though until this point it hasn’t reached the open-jaw level. Quipped Curtis Dubay of the Heritage Foundation, “I don’t know why the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation doesn’t just write a big check to the state and leave everyone else alone.”

           
            Other Notable Trends

n      The campaign to defeat the income-tax measure is picking up steam. The Defeat 1098 campaign, launched with heavy support from the Washington Roundtable, has raised $829,000 so far – and because it’s a defense campaign that didn’t have to collect signatures, most of that money is still in the bank. Most contributions are $25,000 or less, many of them from prominent figures in the tech industry. The largest contribution, $100,000, comes from Joe Barer of Lake Partners, a management consulting firm.

n      The American Beverage Association has put another $525,000 into the campaign for Initiative 1107, the pop-tax rollback. That brings its total backing for the measure to $3.2 million. It spent about $2.5 million getting the measure to the ballot, and recently made a big ad buy for the month of October.

n      The liquor distributors keep pumping money into Initiative 1105, though the pace has slowed since the signature drive. The measure is one of two on this year’s ballot that would junk the state liquor stores, and the primary difference is that 1105 would require all hard-liquor sales to be funneled through liquor distributors. The measure has been entirely financed by two big liquor distributors, Young’s Market Co. of Los Angeles and The Odom Corporation of Bellevue, an affiliate of Southern Wines and Spirits, the nation’s largest liquor distributor. The two concerns spent nearly $1.8 million getting the measure on the ballot. During the month of July, each contributed $57,500 to the campaigns.

n      Initiative 1100, the other liquor measure, saw a similar slowdown. That measure, which would allow retailers to deal directly with manufacturers, has been backed largely by Costco Wholesale, the big Issaquah-based chain. Costco started earlier and spent about $1 million to get the measure on the ballot. During the month of July it contributed another $47,000 to the campaign.

n      The union-backed campaign against the liquor-store measures, Keep Our Kids Safe, has raised $207,000 so far. That includes a notable contribution of $50,000 during the month of July from the United Food and Commercial Workers, which represents the unionized liquor-store workers.

n      On this year’s worker-compensation initiative, I-1082, the Building Industry Association of Washington-backed measure that would allow private competition with the state insurance system, there hasn’t been much activity on the pro side – and no big influx of insurance money just yet. The campaign raised nearly $1 million and spent most of it on the signature drive. But the opponents have been raising money slowly and steadily. The No on 1082 Committee, a largely union-backed campaign, has raised $444,000, and another called Stop Insurance Company Takeovers, backed mainly by trial attorneys, has raised $631,000. Most of that money is still in the bank, awaiting the start of campaign season.