Perhaps the host of Jeopardy! should stick to game shows.
Ken Jennings, who became famous after winning 74 consecutive episodes of Jeopardy and then took over show hosting duties for the beloved Alex Trebek, is now appearing in an advertisement opposing Washington’s Initiative 645. That’s the initiative which would repeal the state’s newly imposed and constitutionally suspect income tax.
Looking straight into the camera from backstage of what appears to be a TV studio, Jennings claims the initiative would give millionaires and billionaires a $13 billion tax break, result in huge cuts to public schools, and make Washington’s tax system even more unfair.
He then declares that it doesn’t take a quiz show host to know Initiative 645 is wrong for Washington.
Apparently it takes more than a quiz show host to get the facts straight. About the only thing Jennings gets right in the ad is the pronunciation of his name.
Let’s first talk about his $13 billion tax break claim.
Lawmakers approved a 9.9% income tax and scheduled it to begin in 2028, with the first payments due in 2029.
I-645 doesn’t reduce an existing income tax rate. And it certainly doesn’t write $13 billion in checks to wealthy Washingtonians.
There is no tax break on the ballot. The initiative essentially keeps taxes the same as they are today. A “tax break” doesn’t exist simply because activists say it does. And if we are to accept the argument that this would result in a “tax break,” it is impossible to know how large or small that break is because the tax doesn’t currently exist.
Next, Jennings warns that Initiative 645 would mean huge cuts to public schools. This is perhaps the biggest whopper.
Washington’s new income tax has generated precisely zero dollars in revenue. Not one dollar from that tax has gone to a classroom, a teacher, a textbook or a school district. No current state appropriations rely on income tax revenue.
Furthermore, there is no guarantee that future money would be spent on public schools. Those are decisions for future legislatures. Initiative 645 does not mandate cuts to public schools.
Jennings’ advertisement is so demonstrably false it raises a larger question: why is Jeopardy! allowing him to sully its reputation?
Jennings doesn’t simply introduce himself as Ken Jennings, a Washington resident expressing his personal opinion.
He specifically identifies himself as the host of Jeopardy! and presents his political message as a pop quiz. He even shoots the ad from what appears to be the backstage of a television show.
The great TV hosts of the past would never allow themselves to be hijacked for a political purpose. Alex Trebek famously said he’d get emails from Republicans assuming he was a Democrat, and Democrats assuming he was a Republican.
And that’s the way it should be. The debate over an income tax is important enough without treating political predictions as established facts.
When it comes to Ken Jennings’ political pop quiz, Washington voters should remember one famous Jeopardy! phrase: “Sorry, that’s incorrect.”
Chris Cargill is the President of Mountain States Policy Center, an independent free market think tank based in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Washington. Online at mountainstatespolicy.org.