The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

Last Monday, opposing activists staged Presidents Day rallies on the Capitol steps in Olympia. In the morning, anti-tax folks flashed signs such as “Deliver us from weasels,” and in the afternoon those who want to preserve state services raised signs such as “Protect our future.”

The governor and legislators are moving toward further infuriating both camps as they ponder both tax increases and service cuts. They see this two-legged stool as the only way to close a $2.8 billion budget gap, oblivious to every stool’s requirement of a minimum three legs.

Why do they keep focusing on two legs while paying virtually no attention to the third strategy: reforming state government overall? The fact that this is an election year no doubt is part of the explanation. And the severity of the financial emergency is another factor, but that only makes us wonder — again — why Democrats won’t use that same emergency declaration to renegotiate contracts with state-worker unions, as allowed by law.

Credit Gov. Chris Gregoire at least for doing something, which is more than we can say for lawmakers who continue to thrash their way deeper into the budget-deficit jungle. Gregoire took the wrong steps, in our opinion, but at least she knew that “At the end of the day, somebody’s got to step off the curb.” Still, as The News Tribune of Tacoma editorialized, she stepped right into the path of a bus driven by Republicans and businesses who say her tax increases will exacerbate — not solve — problems in the state economy.

Gregoire on Wednesday proposed several tax increases and — as has become her habit — she managed to serve up something positive even in a negative plan. The governor wisely eschews a general sales tax increase, arguing correctly that such would be regressive in nature and could further thwart the diminishing consumer spending throughout the state. So instead, she has targeted specific groups.

Her tax increases will not affect you if you never need oil products, if you don’t smoke and if you never buy bottled water, soda pop or candy. Add those all up, though, and all the minigroups compose a rather large contingent. Gregoire proposes a penny-per-ounce tax on bottled water, which would raise about $135 million. A nickel-per-can tax on soda pop would yield $96 million. Tacking another $1 onto a pack of cigarettes would generate $89 million. Most significantly, the governor would almost triple the existing pollution tax on oil products and other pollutants. A projected $148 million increase in revenue would result from this increase, but critics claim it would raise gasoline prices by several cents a gallon, which makes us wonder if motorists would drive fewer miles and buy less gas.

Reactions to her proposals depend, of course, on party affiliation. Senate Minority Leader Mike Hewitt, R-Walla Walla, complained: “The economy is much worse today than it was a year ago. Why would that make this a better time to raise taxes?” And Senate Ways and Means Vice Chairman Rodney Tom, D-Medina, said the governor’s plan “shows recognition that it’s going to take both revenue and cuts to find a balance that everybody can live with.”

Once again, we see Sen. Tom perpetuating the foolish reliance on the two-legged stool of tax increases and spending cuts. And that forces us to ask one more time: Whatever happened to the notion of reducing the cost of government by reforming the delivery of services and programs?

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