Don't blackmail the voters

Consider your choice carefully, dear voter. State Rep. Eric Pettigrew, co-sponsor of a bill that would ask voters to raise the state sales tax by three-tenths of a cent for three years, says if you choose badly, you'll have blood on your hands.

"If voters do not pass this legislation, people will die," Pettigrew spouted Friday at the end of a hearing on the measure.

It's hard to imagine a more cynical or irresponsible statement from a state lawmaker. If Pettigrew and his colleagues who share this view -- and that includes House Speaker Frank Chopp -- care that much about health-related programs for the poor, they should fund them. Instead, they propose leaving their survival to a vote of citizens who are scraping to make ends meet and are highly skeptical of Olympia's priorities. Proponents will plaster images of the state's most vulnerable citizens on billboards and television screens, turning the guilt screws hard.

Voters are smarter than Pettigrew seems to think. They'll see through this blackmail, and many will resent lawmakers for punting some of the tough decisions they were sent to Olympia to make. If this one gets to the ballot, we bet the voters will kick it right back.

And they might not stop there. In their eagerness to raise taxes during a recession, Pettigrew, Chopp and other Democrats are adding fuel to Tim Eyman's latest effort to reduce property taxes, Initiative 1033. Eyman, who testified against the sales-tax increase, must secretly be overjoyed at their strategy. More resentful taxpayers means more signatures on his petitions.

South Snohomish County cities already share the dubious honor of having the highest sales-tax rate in the state -- 9.5 percent. Retailers are already cutting back, laying off workers or closing altogether. The county's jobless rate was almost 10 percent at last count, and the pink slips keep coming from Boeing and other employers.

Families throughout the state are struggling. Draining more money from an already anemic economy could extend the downturn, undercutting the very revenues Pettigrew and Chopp seek to enhance.

Yes, the recession has hit the state budget hard. But before asking taxpayers for more, lawmakers need to do a better job prioritizing existing dollars. Why not, for example, ask state employees to share a greater portion of their health-benefit costs? They're getting a significantly better deal than most private-sector workers -- the very people who would be asked to pay more in sales taxes.

Budget cuts that will cause people to die are not "extras." Lawmakers who try to sell them to voters as such should be ashamed.