Wednesday’s suspension by the state Senate of the two-thirds-approval requirement for tax increases has Democrats drooling over the prospects of digging deeper into your pockets. Dozens of bills already have been introduced that would increase taxes or fees, and more will come next week when drooling for dollars gains momentum.
One small ray of sunshine poked through the devastating economic gloom on Friday. The state Economic and Revenue Forecast Council reported that the state economy appears to be stabilizing, and a growth in state revenues should return over the next few years. But that was quickly offset by the announcement that the budget deficit had increased slightly to about $2.8 billion.
So reality continues to scream: This recession is the worst time to increase taxes. As state Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, noted in a written statement Friday, “The state’s economy is on life support. We should adopt a ‘do no harm’ approach.”
To the contrary, however, many Democrats in Olympia are grabbing for more, insisting that the emergency is so drastic that (1) the two-thirds-approval requirement for tax increases had to be set aside and (2) taxpayers must be gouged even more to answer that emergency. Our first question is simple: If it’s really an emergency (and we agree that it is), why not use the emergency clause to renegotiate contracts with state workers? Not a peep, though, from Democrats about that level of urgency.
Already two especially frightening bills have been introduced, one to increase the state sales tax by 1 percent and another to double the estate tax rates. Clark County residents should be troubled to note that state Rep. Jim Moeller, D-Vancouver, is listed as a sponsor on both bills. One of Moeller’s misguided motivations was revealed in a Wednesday news release in which he pointed to Tuesday’s passage of school bond levies as proof that “when all the facts are put before them, people will make mature, workable decisions for their community.” In Moeller’s mind, if you liked the school levies, boy, you’re gonna love those tax increases!
A more rational view was presented in a Tacoma newspaper editorial. The News Tribune made two points. First, the school levies did not increase taxes but merely renewed taxing authority previously approved by voters. Second, “citizens make a clear distinction between local taxes they impose on themselves and statewide taxes imposed on them from Olympia. They tend to be more willing to buy schools and emergency services close to home, less willing to let distant lawmakers spend more of their money on who knows what.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Moeller and his fellow tax turbochargers must’ve missed last week’s Washington Research Council report that predicted almost 15,000 jobs would be eliminated if the sales tax is increased. Perhaps they also missed the Washington Policy Center’s 2009 report noting that a great way to stimulate the economy and create jobs would be to repeal the estate tax, not double its rates.
On Friday, state economist Arun Raha said: “The Great Recession may be over, but it has wrought havoc on the economy, which will take time to heal.” He also noted that financial service companies, particularly regional banks with large commercial real-estate portfolios, are still struggling. The construction sector will continue to suffer, and sales-tax revenue will diminish as Washingtonians trim their buying habits.
More to the point for countless Washington families, the recession has devastated careers, savings programs and plans for college. Yet some legislators would respond by extracting more from taxpayers. Compounding the ugliness of their anticipated raid on the citizenry is the fact that this Democratically controlled Legislature has made virtually no effort to reform (make more efficient) the delivery of government services. Rather than getting their own house in order and taking advantage of the opportunity to make our state government leaner, more dynamic and more powerful, it’s easier to just change the rules and try to squeeze even more out of taxpayers’ shrinking pocketbooks.
