Readers,

This is part of a statement from the Department of Revenue I received this morning. — Rachel Pritchett

State and local taxes as a percent of personal income dropped to their lowest level in 50 years in 2009, according to new figures from the U.S. Census.

Washington taxes dropped to $93 per $1,000 of personal income, compared to $105 in 2008, according to a statement from the Washington Department of Revenue.

Other states experienced similar drops.

Washington’s $93 was comprised of $57 in state taxes and about $36 in local taxes. It was the lowest figure since the Department of Revenue began tracking figures in 1060, the statement read.

This statement this morning from Tom Geiger, spokesman for United Food and Commercial Workers. — Rachel Pritchett

SEATTLE – A lawsuit has been filed today in King County against the Costco Initiative (I-1183) claiming that the initiative is in violation of the Washington State Constitution because it addresses more than one subject. The plaintiffs in the case are the two unions that represent nearly one thousand workers who would lose their jobs if I-1183 were to go into effect.

While the vast majority of the public discourse around the initiative leading up to the election was on the question of privatization of the state liquor system, the Costco-written initiative had many other fundamental provisions. And that is the crux of the legal challenge.

Not only were the changes to state law as written in I-1183 a violation of the single subject rule, their absence in the public debate was deceitful on the part of Costco. Essentially all the money that Costco spent on the campaign avoided the other changes to the law that positioned them to make huge profits: changing the laws for both distribution and sale of wine; changing the ability of the Liquor Control Board to regulate alcohol advertising; and creating new franchise protections for spirits distributors.

All of these are changes would make Costco particularly well-positioned to make huge profits in the future. And while it is not illegal for a private company to pay for an initiative and spend almost unlimited money to get it passed, it is illegal for them to abuse the system by loading the initiative with too many changes to the law. The reason for the single rule clause in the Constitution is to prohibit this very thing.

“Our democracy is threatened when one corporation like Costco can write a complex initiative, pay for the signatures, pay for the ads that control the debate, all the while avoiding discussion on the other parts of the proposal that are the true motivations by the corporation in the 1st place,” said Tom Geiger, Communications Director of UFCW 21. “Costco did it this way to hide the fact of these other provisions. And that is in essence the reason why the single subject rule exists. To limit the deceitfulness, it requires the advocates for an initiative to be truthful about what is and is not in the initiative.”

The 700-plus workers in the state stores who would lose their job under I-1183 are members of UFCW 21. Additionally, hundreds of other Teamster workers who distribute liquor, wine and beer under the current system may lose their jobs.

“My wife is a clerk at a state store and I work as freight driver for them,” said Joe Van Hoof, a Teamster 174 member whose wife Melanie is a UFCW 21 member. “This thing is threatening both our jobs, and if it was passed because Costco did not follow the law and packed the ballot with too many confusing items, then it should be thrown out.”

The average price of a gallon of unleaded gas in Kitsap County fell to $3.56 today, Tuesday, 21 cents lower than a month ago, but still 44 cents higher than a year ago. Here’s some of what’s going on elsewhere. Rachel Pritchett

NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are wavering after Standard & Poor’s expanded its warning about European debt to include a bailout fund for cash-strapped eurozone members.
Benchmark crude on Tuesday rose 30 cents to $101.29 per barrel in New York, while Brent crude rose 38 cents to $109.91 a barrel in London.
S&P warned on Monday that it may downgrade 15 European countries, including Germany, because of the region’s ongoing problems with massive government debts. On Tuesday the credit ratings agency added Europe’s bailout fund for countries with the worst debt, saying it could drop from S&P’s top AAA rating if other top-rated European countries are downgraded.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel downplayed S&P’s warnings. But a downgrade would make it more expensive for European nations to raise money, hampering efforts to pay down those huge debts. Many analysts predict that Europe will slide back into recession, and the concern is how far the banking crisis will spread.
Further weakening in the European economy will reverberate through the world economy, hurting demand for foreign goods and cutting energy consumption by major manufacturers in the U.S. and China.
Meanwhile U.S. gasoline pump prices were unchanged on Tuesday at a national average of $3.275 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular has tumbled by 71 cents from its peak this year near $4 per gallon, though it’s still about 32.cents more than it was a year ago.
In other energy trading, heating oil rose 2.75 cents to $3.0199 per gallon, and gasoline futures rose 2.72 cents to $2.6409 per gallon. Natural gas rose 4.3 cents to $3.5040 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Oil price wavers as Europe responds to S&P warning
NEW YORK (AP) — Oil prices are wavering after Standard & Poor’s expanded its warning about European debt to include a bailout fund for cash-strapped eurozone members.
Benchmark crude on Tuesday rose 30 cents to $101.29 per barrel in New York, while Brent crude rose 38 cents to $109.91 a barrel in London.
S&P warned on Monday that it may downgrade 15 European countries, including Germany, because of the region’s ongoing problems with massive government debts. On Tuesday the credit ratings agency added Europe’s bailout fund for countries with the worst debt, saying it could drop from S&P’s top AAA rating if other top-rated European countries are downgraded.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel downplayed S&P’s warnings. But a downgrade would make it more expensive for European nations to raise money, hampering efforts to pay down those huge debts. Many analysts predict that Europe will slide back into recession, and the concern is how far the banking crisis will spread.
Further weakening in the European economy will reverberate through the world economy, hurting demand for foreign goods and cutting energy consumption by major manufacturers in the U.S. and China.
Meanwhile U.S. gasoline pump prices were unchanged on Tuesday at a national average of $3.275 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service. A gallon of regular has tumbled by 71 cents from its peak this year near $4 per gallon, though it’s still about 32.cents more than it was a year ago.
In other energy trading, heating oil rose 2.75 cents to $3.0199 per gallon, and gasoline futures rose 2.72 cents to $2.6409 per gallon. Natural gas rose 4.3 cents to $3.5040 per 1,000 cubic feet.

By Rachel Pritchett

Fifty-four taxpayers in Kitsap County have tax refunds coming, but the IRS can’t find them.

The average refund size is $815, for a total of roughly $44,000, according to David Tucker, spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service in Seattle.

But the IRS can’t find the rightful recipients for these mostly 2010 returns, though some are from prior years.

It is the same in Mason County, where the IRS owes refunds totaling nearly $20,600 to 16 taxpayers. The average payback there is $1,285, much higher than for Kitsap.

But the IRS mailed the returns to bad addresses and the refunds bounced back, and now it can’t find the Masonites either.

Plus, the tax collector can’t find some people in Jefferson County it owes money to but cannot find. But because there are fewer than 10 persons who didn’t get their checks in JeffCo, the IRS is withholding any figures. It fears releasing numbers might lead to identification of those few individuals.

Nationally, the IRS is looking to return $153 million t
o 99,000 taxpayers it can’t find due to mailing-address errors.
Here is what to do to get your check here at Christmastime when we could all use some cash in a hurry.

Go to IRS.gov and click on the “Where’s My Refund?” tool and follow the prompts. Or, call (800) 829-1954 and do the same.

Taxpayers can avoid the possibility of not getting their refund by choosing direct deposit when they file either paper or electronic returns, the IRS advises.

“Taxpayers can receive refunds directly into their bank accounts, split a tax refund into two or three financial accounts or even buy a savings bond,” an IRS statement read.

Filing electronically also eliminates the risk of lost paper returns. Eight of 10 taxpayers nationally e-filed last year.

The IRS does not contact taxpayers by email to let them know it can’t find their addresses and does not ask for personal or financial information via email either, to protect security.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203935604577066750082299954.html?mod=WSJ_SmallBusiness_LEADNewsCollection

By Amy Phan, Kitsap Sun

Pizza Hut customers might want to double-check their receipts soon, paying attention to the sales tax charge.

As longtime customer Chris Petig found out earlier this week, they might be paying for more sales tax than allowed by state law.

Last weekend, Petig noticed she was getting charged more than usual for her $10 purchase at a Pizza Hut store located in East Bremerton on Highway 303.

“The bill totaled $11.07. I thought it was odd,” she said.

After calling the store, management told her there was a computer glitch that caused the store to charge customers 10.7 percent sales tax, instead of what is allowed by state law in Kitsap County, which is 8.6 percent.

The manager told Petig she could come back and get the 21 cents they overcharged her.

She got her refund and called a few days later to see if the problem was fixed.

Management told her it was not and they were using hand-calculators to figure out the correct sales tax, according to Petig.

She asked what was being done to notify other customers of the overcharge.

Management said customers can come into the restaurant and get refunded, she said.

“That’s not the right response to me. They just kept saying our system is wrong and I thought this is nuts. If you mess around with others’ money, you don’t wait for the whole weekend and wait for customers to find out the next day,” she said.

She’s since submitted a complaint to the Department of Revenue, notifying them of the issue.

An e-mail correspondence with Pizza Hut’s corporate offices resulted in what the chain is calling an “honest mistake.” They said the issue has since been fixed.

No responses about how long the issue had been going on or how many people were affected.

“We cannot share details on transactions publicly – it’s both an issue of protecting customer privacy and protecting our sales information from competitors. I agree that customers deserve to know, which is why we offered to refund the difference to all of the customers who were affected,” Pizza Hut spokesman Chris Fuller said.

From a legal standpoint, it will be challenging to hold Pizza Hut accountable for the overcharge unless they go through an extensive audit, since state law “does not address what will happen if a business collects too much tax,” Mike Gowrylow, spokesman for the Department of Revenue, said.

“It’s been our interpretation if you collect unduly, as long as you report it to the state and give back what you collected, you did not break any laws,” he said.

He suggests customers check their receipts carefully and contact Pizza Hut if they’ve been overcharged and ask for a refund.

Readers,

Here’s an imaginative message from Port Orchard social-media marketer and certified public accountant on how to make your Internet message go viral. — Rachel Pritchett

By Steve Johnson

Online, V is for VIRAL!

Whenever I bring up the V word – Viral, it seems most people jump back or just fall asleep. Too geeky! Too arcane! (look it up) “Steve, this hurts my poor little old head!”

Yeah? Whatever. Can’t help ya.

Viral is about one thing, at least in the Internet space. Something that has built and/or lost people fortunes for a very long time. Perhaps as far back as ancient Sumeria:

WORD OF MOUTH
Today, that exact-same process can be articulated or otherwise translated into several different disguises. Some of them are obvious. Some, less so.
Here are a few:

1. Emailing someone about something
2. Instant Messaging someone using a modern IM service
3. Texting someone via SMS
4. Calling someone on the phone
5. Calling someone via IM service or Voice Over IP
6. Updating a Facebook page
7. Tweeting about something
8. Blogging about something
9. Making a video about something
10. Adding a WikiHow entry about something
11. Posting in a forum about something

Ok, you get the message. The digital “zeroes and ones” equivalent of ancient Sumerian word-of-mouth advertising invades every nook, cranny, and fiber of our very being these days.

So what? How does this mean anything to MY problems, MY business, MY financial balance sheet, MY standard of living?

Glad you asked!

If you get this one right, you are on your way to a charmed life. The stuff of legends. One that the KINGS and QUEENS of entire countries, continents and religions down through the millenia would have given their left uh, appendage (or egg) for. 🙂 Is that clear enough for ya, Homer?

Before I discuss specifics, a word about one key ingredient.

QUALITY
It doesn’t matter what the power of the medium is if you screw this one up. It’s going to go POOF and be kicked to some far corner of the Internet’s massive hard drive. Buh Bye! Nice knowin ya!

Remember, there are about a billion people competing for the English content space, and you are just one person. Even your team is still likely to be just one drop in a massive proverbial bucket…unless you adopt the quality and differentiation mantra. Just be better than everyone else.

Ok, so for the specific attributes that turn content into a VIRAL MONSTER, think about how your piece stacks up in these areas:

    Humor (arguably the most viral of all attributes – partly due to supply – or lack thereof)
    Sex (never ever discount this one! EVER! (did I say that loudly enough?)
    Controversy (humans are gabbers and love to “talk amongst themselves” (Mike Myers, Sat Night Live)
    Offbeat (if it’s odd enough, or daring, or just plain sick or surreal)
    Political (partly because of that humor thang – is any political stuff really serious? ROFL)
    Religion (see humor and controversy)
    Money and Wealth (could easily be first – humans can’t resist this one)

When you put your blue ocean thinking hat on and keep the above attributes in mind even before you develop your content, an unusual and yummy thing begins to happen – buzz. jabber. and, umm, TRAFFIC! oooh…. ( “Honey! (bellowing) Have you seen my Ferrari dealer’s number? I can’t find it!” )

Steve Johnson is CPA, admitted techie nutter and advanced social media and attraction marketer. Based in Manchester, WA on the beautiful Olympic Peninsula, his company, The Ardvark Group, Inc teaches marketing organizations large and small the fine art and science of virtual empire development.

Readers,

More than 18 percent of Kitsap homeowners with a mortgage now owe more than their properties are worth. If you’re one and you’re willing to be interviewed, call me at (360) 475-3783.

Thank you,

Rachel Pritchett, reporter, (360) 475-3783

This news release from the National Retail Federation …

For those keeping score, consumers’ voracious appetites for great deals on Thanksgiving and Black Friday this year helped secure this weekend’s place in the record books. According to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch over the weekend, traffic and spending were up both online and in stores, reaching historic highs.

According to the survey, a record 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend*, up from 212 million last year. Digging deep into their holiday budgets, the average holiday shopper spent $398.62 this weekend, up from $365.34 last year. Total spending reached an estimated $52.4 billion. Additionally, shoppers also checked out retailers’ deals online, spending an average of $150.53 on the web – 37.8 percent of their total weekend spending.

“Stuffed to the brim from their holiday meals and eager to shop, more consumers than ever turned out for retailers’ Black Friday promotions, a promising sign for the economic recovery,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “After an historic holiday weekend, retailers know the holiday season is far from over and will continue to look for ways to excite holiday shoppers and build on the momentum we’ve seen thus far.”

The survey found 28.7 million people shopped online and at stores on Thanksgiving Day – up from 22.2 million last year. More people than ever before also shopped online and in stores on Black Friday, as 86.3 million shoppers braved the crowds that day alone.

By Don C. Brunell, president, Association of Washington Business

Just about the time the Congressional “Super Committee” declared failure, our national debt clock rolled past $15 trillion. Even as the discussions, co-chaired by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., ground to a halt and Congress left the Capitol for Thanksgiving, the debt clock kept ticking.

That means each taxpayer’s portion of our debt is now $133,687.

Where will this all stop? Are we headed for another partisan meltdown over raising our debt ceiling? Will we see another downgrading of our nation’s credit rating?

It is no wonder investors are keeping their money in their pockets. Credit analysts are beginning to question our nation’s ability to repay what we have borrowed, and the financial markets are rising and plunging like the cars on a roller coaster.

It is time to look north and take some valuable lessons from our Canadian friends. In September, The Seattle Times published a series of editorials suggesting that Americans do just that.

The editorial writers suggested that we fix ourselves, just as the Canadians did in the early 1990s. Liberals and conservatives north of our border cut $7 for every dollar of tax increase. The cuts did not ruin the job market, and Canada’s debt has fallen from 67 percent of gross domestic product to 29 percent — less than half the U.S. figure today.

With less debt, Canada came through the recent deep recession stronger. Its unemployment rate in the last three years averaged 7.6 percent while ours hovered between 9 and 10 percent and flirted with 11 percent. Its dollar, which was worth less than 70 cents U.S. a decade ago, has climbed back to par.

While there are some discernible differences between our two countries, the underlying fact is Canada tackled its spending and revenue problems head on, while we bicker endlessly. Our inability to act forces us to borrow more from thriving foreign countries such as China, which now owns $4.6 trillion of the U.S. government debt.

Canadians took some novel approaches which American politicians shun. For example, to bring down costs, Canada contracts its highway maintenance and air traffic control system to the private, taxpaying sector. Contracting out public sector jobs is taboo in U.S. union halls.

While we fight over the siting of wind farms and new ways to develop our oil and gas reserves, the Canadians have become an energy superpower. Canada is now America’s largest foreign supplier of all kinds of energy from natural gas and crude oil to electricity.

The point is Canada has found ways to develop its resources in a productive and environmentally responsible way — something we in Washington state strive to emulate.

Canada remains Washington state’s largest non-aerospace export market and is second overall behind China. Canadians make more than two million visits to Washington, spending $454 million. They buy Boeing’s 787 commercial aircraft, and the Royal Canadian Air Force flies Boeing’s C-17 transports.

We are neighbors and friends. Like all friendships, there are valuable lessons we can learn from one another. In financial matters, we ought to look north.