OLYMPIA, Wash. — Gov. Chris Gregoire said today that she doesn’t support a bill that would impose an income tax on the state’s highest earners.
“I recognize the tremendous difficulties that legislators are facing as they craft a budget under these challenging economic conditions,” Gregoire said in a prepared statement. “However, as I have stated before, I do not support a state income tax.
“The new proposal will undoubtedly raise constitutional and legal challenges and probably wouldn’t bring in new revenue in time to address the economic crisis we face.”
Gregoire commented one day after some Democratic state senators proposed a 1 percent income tax on people making more than $500,000 a year or $1 million on married couples.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, was introduced as top lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, have started publicly discussing the idea of a state income tax.
On Tuesday, Brown noted that New York is considering a similar measure. Brown wrote that New York’s plan to boost existing state income tax rates on top earners would be “a fair and stable way” of dealing with that state’s declining revenue.
Brown’s staff, however, said the timing of the bill and Brown’s postings were just a coincidence.
Kohl-Welles introduced a similar measure in 2007, but it never gained traction.
The bill would direct all money raised from the tax to an account that would be used for schools and colleges and universities.
Washington is one of only a handful of states without a state income tax.
In 1932, Washington voters approved an initiative establishing a personal income tax, but it was later struck down by the state Supreme Court. Since then voters have rejected income tax proposals. The most recent, in 1973, was defeated by 77 percent of voters.
Asserting that the state needs major tax reform, Kohl-Welles said conceded that it’s not likely to happen this year.
“But in the meantime we’re crippling our public schools and colleges while having a very large number of millionaires in the state that would be paying an income tax if they lived in most any other state in the country,” she said in an e-mail Wednesday night. “I think my proposal is very reasonable.”
Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, chairwoman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said she was inclined to give the measure a hearing.
Lawmakers are trying to plug a projected $9 billion budget hole through mid-2011, and House and Senate Democrats introduced cut-heavy budget proposals earlier this week.
Kohl-Welles’ measure would impose a 1 percent tax on income for single people with incomes of more than $500,000, heads of households making more than $750,000 and married couples making more than $1 million.
Under a voter-approved initiative, any taxes must be approved by two-thirds of the Legislature or go before voters.
Now that both chambers have unveiled their draft budgets, top lawmakers begin high-pressure negotiations to find common ground and adjourn by an April 26 deadline.
It’s widely expected that voters will be asked to raise their own taxes to help avoid the deepest state budget cuts, particularly in education and health care.
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