Published: Saturday, April 10, 2010
There's still no deal on taxes and few days left
And taxes aren’t the only hurdle: Legislators still must pass a budget and a spending plan for capital projects.
OLYMPIA — With time running out in the special session, Democratic lawmakers came up empty-handed again Friday in their quest for agreement on a tax package to help close the state’s budget deficit.
Leaders of the Legislature’s majority party spent a third day trying to round up votes to pass an $801 million tax proposal, the most disputed piece of Democrats’ plan for closing the state’s $2.8 billion shortfall.
Today at 2 p.m., deal or no deal, all lawmakers are due in the Capitol to start slogging through the final four days of the 30-day overtime.
Even if an accord is struck on what taxes to raise and how much to raise them, lawmakers still must adopt a balanced budget for government operations and a spending plan for capital projects before time expires at midnight Wednesday.
“If they have the votes, we’ll be on the floor in an hour voting. If they don’t, we may be here until Wednesday,” Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, predicted Friday.
Gov. Chris Gregoire sounded optimistic they’ll get the work done, though she vowed not to give them more time if they don’t.
“If the revenue package that we’re talking about cannot be voted on positively, then I don’t have an answer and I’m not calling them back for a second special session,” she said. “I learned my lesson. I’m not calling a special session and have everybody sit around and look at each other. Nope, not on the taxpayer’s dime.”
If the Legislature doesn’t deliver a budget to her, she’ll order state agencies to cut their spending by 20 percent to get it done.
Meanwhile Friday, opponents of the proposal continued turning up the volume of their protests.
The Washington Association of Realtors paid for a blitz of ads on radio and in newspapers urging legislators to exclude real estate agents from a planned hike in business taxes. The House and Senate agreed to do so last month, but the proposal under consideration changes that.
The Washington Beverage Association is also running ads and is hinting at a possible initiative to roll back a proposed new excise tax on soda pop. Members of the group and the Northwest Grocery Association were at the Capitol on Friday.
A coalition of education, health care and human service groups is also running ads on the radio but they urge legislators to vote for the tax package. The ads point out how the tax money will be spent and how most of the increases will go away in June 2013.
Gregoire and Democratic leaders in the two chambers agreed Wednesday on the compromise proposal. Since then, they’ve been vexed in their bid to secure votes to pass it.
It would bring in a projected $801 million through June 30, 2011, by tightening tax exemptions for out-of-state businesses, imposing new taxes on soda pop, candy, gum and bottled water, and higher taxes on beer, cigarettes and professional service businesses.
Those dollars will be poured into education, health care and human services including the Basic Health Plan, which provides state-subsidized health insurance for 65,000 low-income people; financial aid for college students; all-day kindergarten; and services for the elderly and disabled.
Gregoire said it’s not a perfect package but the across-the-board cuts are not a better alternative. She’s been phoning reticent lawmakers to try to win their support.
Leaders in the House and Senate may need to put the tax proposal up for a vote and see what happens, she said.
“They need to have that (vote) board light up and ask themselves, ‘What am I going to do? I can’t live with an-all cuts budget, the revenue package isn’t perfect, but I need to get the job done. We need to manage government,’ ” she said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
Leaders of the Legislature’s majority party spent a third day trying to round up votes to pass an $801 million tax proposal, the most disputed piece of Democrats’ plan for closing the state’s $2.8 billion shortfall.
Today at 2 p.m., deal or no deal, all lawmakers are due in the Capitol to start slogging through the final four days of the 30-day overtime.
Even if an accord is struck on what taxes to raise and how much to raise them, lawmakers still must adopt a balanced budget for government operations and a spending plan for capital projects before time expires at midnight Wednesday.
“If they have the votes, we’ll be on the floor in an hour voting. If they don’t, we may be here until Wednesday,” Rep. Bruce Chandler, R-Granger, predicted Friday.
Gov. Chris Gregoire sounded optimistic they’ll get the work done, though she vowed not to give them more time if they don’t.
“If the revenue package that we’re talking about cannot be voted on positively, then I don’t have an answer and I’m not calling them back for a second special session,” she said. “I learned my lesson. I’m not calling a special session and have everybody sit around and look at each other. Nope, not on the taxpayer’s dime.”
If the Legislature doesn’t deliver a budget to her, she’ll order state agencies to cut their spending by 20 percent to get it done.
Meanwhile Friday, opponents of the proposal continued turning up the volume of their protests.
The Washington Association of Realtors paid for a blitz of ads on radio and in newspapers urging legislators to exclude real estate agents from a planned hike in business taxes. The House and Senate agreed to do so last month, but the proposal under consideration changes that.
The Washington Beverage Association is also running ads and is hinting at a possible initiative to roll back a proposed new excise tax on soda pop. Members of the group and the Northwest Grocery Association were at the Capitol on Friday.
A coalition of education, health care and human service groups is also running ads on the radio but they urge legislators to vote for the tax package. The ads point out how the tax money will be spent and how most of the increases will go away in June 2013.
Gregoire and Democratic leaders in the two chambers agreed Wednesday on the compromise proposal. Since then, they’ve been vexed in their bid to secure votes to pass it.
It would bring in a projected $801 million through June 30, 2011, by tightening tax exemptions for out-of-state businesses, imposing new taxes on soda pop, candy, gum and bottled water, and higher taxes on beer, cigarettes and professional service businesses.
Those dollars will be poured into education, health care and human services including the Basic Health Plan, which provides state-subsidized health insurance for 65,000 low-income people; financial aid for college students; all-day kindergarten; and services for the elderly and disabled.
Gregoire said it’s not a perfect package but the across-the-board cuts are not a better alternative. She’s been phoning reticent lawmakers to try to win their support.
Leaders in the House and Senate may need to put the tax proposal up for a vote and see what happens, she said.
“They need to have that (vote) board light up and ask themselves, ‘What am I going to do? I can’t live with an-all cuts budget, the revenue package isn’t perfect, but I need to get the job done. We need to manage government,’ ” she said.
Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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