Tolls on the existing lanes of I-5 and I-405. Tolls on Highway 99, 167, and 522. Tolls on the 520 Bridge, I-90 Bridge, and West Seattle Bridge. Tolls on all the major streets, roads, highways, and bridges throughout the Puget Sound and beyond.

Tolls here, there, and everywhere. That’s their plan.

Don’t believe it?

In July, the Seattle Times reported: “After years of acting gingerly, the House Transportation Chair said the state may be ready as early as next year for tolled highways as a gridlike, interconnected system instead of being implemented piecemeal. This approach – toll all the major roads – was in a recent report for the Seattle Mayor.”

In an editorial by the liberal Seattle Weekly entitled “Tim Eyman Finally Finds an Initiative That Makes Sense,” they wrote: “People of all political stripes are bound to feel under assault from the battery of tolls that are now under discussion. To bureaucrats, tolling seems to be like alcohol or pie: once they get a taste, they can’t seem to stop.”

Our state imposes one of the highest gas taxes in the nation, collecting billions every year.

Nonetheless, they’re talking about double-taxing us with billions more from tolls on existing streets, roads, bridges, and highways.

And about one-third of those billions will be siphoned off to pay “overhead,” including the for-profit, out-of-state, hopelessly incompetent tolling company. We’re talking about thousands of dollars being taken away from already-stretched family budgets.

It is a seismic shift, a radical change. Before all that happens, voters deserve to be told about it.

We’ve watched state and local governments, politicians and bureaucrats, business and labor divide up the anticipated billions without informing and involving the people who will be paying those extra billions.

Our initiative on the November ballot, I-1125, puts a bright spotlight on the situation and allows a public debate over the direction of tolling policy, giving the people a voice in the decision.

Polls show I-1125 gaining support because the more people learn about it, the more they like it. Under I-1125:

• Transportation taxes and tolls can only be used for transportation;

• Tolls on a project must go to the project;

• Once the project is paid for, the toll expires and goes away;

• Tolls must be the same for everyone: fair, uniform, and consistent.

These policies should sound familiar. The original I-90 bridge, 520 bridge, Hood Canal Bridge, and Tacoma Narrows Bridge were all built using these policies.

Without I-1125, these basic protections that have been the law for nearly 100 years will be eliminated. I-1125 simply keeps those tested, 100-year protections in effect. Tolls aren’t taxes and I-1125 keeps it that way.

I-1125 also has the same policy that 64 percent of voters approved last November: that any fee increase be approved by the Legislature, not state agencies.

Our country was founded on the principle of no-taxation-without-representation. That principle is violated when unelected bureaucrats at state agencies are empowered to unilaterally increase taxes and fees.

If politicians are going to take more of our money, it’s not too much to ask that they take a recorded vote to ensure accountability and transparency.

The opponents of 1125 are the same forces that pushed last year’s state income tax and opposed last year’s tougher-to-raise-taxes 1053.

It makes sense. I-1125 simply reinforces voters’ message from last year: that taking more of the people’s money has to be an absolute last resort.

In these tough times, the idea of government taking thousands of dollars per year out of already-stretched family budgets is really scary.

People are hurting, and yet Olympia is nonetheless sneaking forward with “tolls” that are just taxes by another name.

In January, Governor Gregoire said: “I’m not gonna let 1053 stand in the way of me moving forward for what I think is right.”

Voters approved last year’s Initiative 1053 by a huge margin – don’t let Olympia get away with putting a massive, multi-billion-dollar loophole in it.

Vote YES (again). With our taxpayers, our families, and our economy struggling, it’s more important than ever to protect ourselves by approving Initiative 1125.

Tim Eyman, co-sponsor of I-1125, the Protect Gas-Taxes and Toll-Revenues Act, 425-493-9127. For information, visit www.VotersWantMoreChoices.com