We know that Seattle is a 487 utopia. Unlike a lot of 487 places, they came late to the party, so they don’t have all of the old baggage like Baltimore, Atlanta, Birmingham, etc. And they have money. Their latest trick is to force everyone to fund their craziness. The courts get to decide if that’s wrong.
In 2015, the City of Seattle adopted “democracy vouchers” with the passage of Initiative 122. The law went into effect in 2017, with the first vouchers – paid for by property owners via a tax on their land – distributed to residents who then contribute to eligible candidates for local city offices. There is no refund mechanism or exemption for conscientious objectors. The city anticipates raising $30 million over a ten-year period to fund the local politician’s campaigns. PLF represents Seattle property owners Mark Elster and Sarah Pynchon in a lawsuit to strike down this unconstitutional law as a violation of their First Amendment rights against compelled speech. Many property owners, such as Ms. Pynchon, own property within the city and are subject to the levy even though they live outside the city limits and cannot themselves receive vouchers. Both Mr. Elster and Ms. Pynchon object to bankrolling political speech that they don’t want to support. Read more here.