As a Southwest Washington business owner, I know that small and rural business owners like me are willing to pay our fair share for the schools, roads, and safety we all depend on, but for too long families and small businesses have been forced to bear the brunt when it comes to raising revenue. It’s beyond time for a better approach.
A great place to start is our upside-down tax code. Washington state gives away billions in the form of corporate tax breaks and loopholes without any accounting or audit of their performance. That isn’t how I run my business and it shouldn’t be the way we run our government.
We need to improve transparency and account for each tax break — both its value to our state and the real cost to us in lost revenue.
I want businesses to thrive here in Washington, but I don’t want large corporations to benefit at the expense of the hardworking families across Southwest Washington. Cleaning up our tax system is a step in the right direction and one I urge lawmakers in Olympia to support this session.
