Column | Lewis: The $2 billion bait and switch

Column | Lewis: The $2 billion bait and switch

“Graduated income tax.” What a benign name. The rich will pay a little more, everyone else will pay less, and life will go on pretty much as before. That is not what Amendment 87 (Initiative 195) does. Initiative 195 is a nearly $2 billion-a-year tax increase wrapped in a friendlier package. Calling it a “graduated income tax” is like calling a bank robbery a cash withdrawal. Our laws say that ballot measures are supposed to be “single subject,”…