OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — Gov. Chris Gregoire is proposing $1.7 billion in cuts to state government, but suggests a temporary sales tax increase to prevent some of the more severe reductions that include shortening the school year for public school students.
Gregoire’s proposal to address a projected $1.4 billion deficit was released Monday. It also includes reductions in university support and the elimination of medical programs for 55,000 low-income residents.
But Gregoire, entering her final year in office, is seeking more than $830 million in revenue to buy back some of these cuts, and wants a voter-approved temporary half-cent tax increase that would bring in $494 million through 2013. That tax increase would expire in 2015.
