Forum: Our challenges can’t be resolved without additional revenue

Published 1:30 am Saturday, February 28, 2026

By Ann Morgan / Herald Forum

Predictably, conservatives in the Washington state Legislature and on local social media are taking their usual stands against tax increases.

So here we go again; politicians who rely on pious arguments for “austerity” and blame games around “over-spending” and “soon it will be taxes on all!” to mask their justification for preserving carve-outs for wealthy donors and supporters. This ignores the fact that our communities are suffering, especially given the current policies and draconian cuts to funding from the federal government at the hands of Republican officials. And we are going to suffer even more without significant help from state government as the consequences roll down hill.

If those of us at the bottom of the hill want to continue supporting our communities by feeding our hungry, housing our homeless, providing care for our sick and addicted and educating our kids from preschool on, we are going to need more revenue; a lot more revenue. For those who don’t or won’t pay for it, prepare for more homeless encampments, drug addiction, outright starvation, and spikes in lawless behavior, especially among disaffected youth. Legislative proposals to tax those with the highest incomes are the obvious choice to help prevent this, and it doesn’t affect lower and middle income residents.

I am a third-generation Washingtonian, now in my 70s. When I was growing up here in the 1950s and ’60s, food banks were non-existent, most families could get by on one income, and medical care was widely available and affordable. Conservatives love to reminisce about this “ideal” period in our history, but they always neglect to mention that federal income tax rates on wealthier residents then were higher.

Bountiful federal revenue meant that states were better funded. Here in the Pacific Northwest, property taxes were lower and federal taxes largely funded major projects: Building I-5, the floating bridges, the Seattle Center, Paine Field, and SeaTac expansions. It helped industries like Boeing, and later Microsoft, and local medical labs developed advanced technologies.

Our parents and grandparents helped to pay for much of this with their tax dollars; they understood that this was building a better future for their children and the nation. But now, the increased loss of this kind of federal funding needs to be taken more seriously, and factored into our state funding dilemmas today.

These lessons from the past should inform our present controversies over both state and federal taxation, revenue and adequate fiscal support for the overall health of our state. Current discussions on revenue and budget shortfalls in Olympia need to be based on long-term goals, facts on the ground, accurate dollar estimates and funding gaps underlying real community problems; no matter how painful to address.

Rhetorical blame games, fiscal piety, scare tactics and willful ignorance by legislators may please some voters, but it won’t solve our revenue problems or benefit our communities. Those who are struggling in this economy — both present and future — deserve better.

Ann Morgan lives in Everett.