OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire began making a case for new or higher taxes this morning after proposing a budget containing deep reductions she said she can’t live with.
The plan put forth by the second-term governor would erase a projected $2.6 billion deficit by slashing funds for public schools and axing programs that serve the state’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.
It eliminates the Basic Health Plan that provides subsidized health insurance for 65,000 low-income individuals and ends cash grants to thousands of the state’s poorest through the General Assistance-Unemployable program.
It also reduces financial aid to college students and money for smaller class sizes in public schools and makes a number of smaller cuts, including funds to give students free tours of the Capitol.
Overall, Gregoire blends $1.6 billion in cuts with $650 million in reserves and $420 million in transfers from other funds to get rid of the red ink.
This plan covers spending through mid-2011. By law, it had to be balanced using the existing stream of taxes, fees and other sources of revenue collected by the state.
Gregoire, in an open letter to residents, said she doesn’t like what she produced and will prepare a second version that raises revenue to avert some of the deepest cuts.
“I am legally required to submit a budget that is balanced to current revenues, and that is what I have done. But I do so with the greatest reluctance,” she said in the letter.
“Today’s document does not reflect our values as a state. It does not reflect the Washington I know and love or the Washington I want for our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. I am convinced it is not the plan for the future that Washingtonians would choose, either,” she wrote
In the letter, Gregoire does not identify any sources for the additional funds she will seek.
“With regard to revenue, we should first look at eliminating unfair and unproductive exemptions and loopholes,” she wrote in the letter.
“We will explore every possible savings option and we will experience shared pain from the results. While it is evident we cannot cut our way out of this budget dilemma, it is just as certain we cannot tax our way out of it,” she said.
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