I applaud your “Why small business matters in Auburn” editorial (July 9). As your columnist reminds us, over the past decade small businesses have created 70 percent of all of new jobs.

That’s why I support an initiative eliminating the B&O tax for Auburn small businesses and more than 375,000 small businesses all across Washington state.

This initiative cuts around $180 per household per year in state property taxes in King County. It restores funds cut from our critical education and health care budgets during this brutal recession.

Known as the “Bill Gates Sr. Income Tax Initiative”, I-1098 establishes an income tax on couples making more than $400,000 per year and singles more than $200,000.

That’s our 3 percent most wealthy households, well below most rates paid in our other 42 states with state income taxes.

I-1098 requires a popular vote to change its rates or threshold incomes, protecting the 97 percent of us who make less than $400,000 (or $200,000) per year.

The “Bill Gates Sr. Income Tax Initiative,” I-1098 will get Auburn’s small businesses growing again.

– Pat Montgomery