Here A Tax, There A Tax, Everywhere A Tax

Once again the Washington State legislature has earned it's long-held reputation for being tax happy. The state Senate has enacted a measure that will suspend a popular initiative passed a couple of years ago that prohibits the legislature from passing any tax hikes without a two-thirds majority in both houses. This bill, expected to be signed by Gov. Gregoire tomorrow, paves the way for the legislature to pass a two year, $26 billion budget chock-full of tax hikes before the legislative session ends on the twenty-fourth of this month. For example, there will be a 5% tax on non-tribal minicasinos, a 60 cent hike on the cigarette tax this year and a 20 cent hike next year, a $1 dollar hike on the liquor tax, an extension of the sales tax to extended warranties for items such as appliances, and a hike on business taxes levied against canned meat processors. These are just the main ones, and the legislature has also considered levying other "sin taxes", such as a five percent tax on cans of pop.

To justify these measures, the Democratic majority has claimed that higher taxes are needed to keep the budget in balance. However the budget shortfall is not because taxes are too low, it is because spending is too high. A wise man once pointed out that a government program is the closest thing to eternal life we will see on this earth. By creating more and more programs within the state, programs which once inacted will always be there, we will continue to add to the imbalance between expenditures and revenue, which will mean more taxes in future budgets to cover that indiscrepancy, only worsening the cycle we've created for ourselves.

Democrats, including the governor have admitted that this cycle is unsustainable, yet instead of trying to get us out of it they only make things worse by increasing expenditures and taxes. If we in Washington don't start demanding more from our elected representatives than the tax burden is going to start breaking our backs. Sure a little hike on the cigarette tax here and on canned meat there doesn't seem like much, but it has gotten to the point where there is a tax here, a tax there, a tax everywhere.

The legislature is looking to come back for more in the next budget cycle as well. A provision in the bill I mentioned above has reworked the way the state's spending limit is determined, moving from the current formula based on a combination of the state's population and inflation to a new system that determines changes in the spending limit on growth in personal income. The House bill sets spending increases at 90% of the growth of income, while the Senate version sets it at 100%. Personal income is projected to grow by 11.5% over the next two years, while the current formula is only expected to grow by 7%. This 4.5% gap will allow the legislature to increase spending by a billion dollars in the next budget. Democrats, if they are still the majority than, will have to enact another series of tax hikes to balance an even larger budget.

All of this fiscal insanity has to stop sometime, and I hope that the voters of Washington State will elect a Republican legislature next year and a Republican governor in '08. Only than will we be able to end the vicious cycle of spending and taxing that has pervaded in this state for far too long.