OLYMPIA — Higher taxes should be part of the Legislature’s solution to the state’s estimated $8 billion budget deficit, but officials must ensure the burden doesn’t fall too heavily on the poor, a top state lawmaker said Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, said the Legislature can’t rely on spending cuts alone to close a massive budget shortfall. That approach would only worsen the state’s economic problems by leading to more layoffs, she said.
“So we’re going to look for ways that we can raise the necessary revenue to keep basic state services, in education and higher education, and health care and critical human services,” Brown said in a speech to the Washington State Labor Council.
Brown didn’t offer details about the type of taxes lawmakers might consider. But her comments were perhaps the most explicit public statement yet by a leading lawmaker about the notion that higher taxes will be part of the budget solution.
Gov. Chris Gregoire, also a Democrat, has proposed a no-new-taxes budget that would cut more than $3 billion from state spending. State finances have plummeted since Gregoire released her plan in December, making the Legislature’s budget-writing job even more difficult.
On Thursday, Brown indicated she might not favor general sales tax increases, saying that any tax package must not “place that burden on people who are already paying too much in our unfair tax system.” Democrats generally believe the sales tax places too heavy a burden on poorer people because a relatively large slice of their income is spent on consumer goods.
Voter-approved limits on the Legislature’s taxing powers make it virtually impossible for Democrats to pass any tax hike with their present majorities in the House and Senate. That means any tax package will have to go to the voters for final approval, bypassing Gregoire’s signature.
Republican lawmakers were not surprised by Brown’s stronger flirtation with tax increases.
Rep. Gary Alexander, R-Olympia, predicted that Democrats and interest groups will have a hard time selling voters on a tax package in a deep recession.
“Citizens are out there trying to balance their own budgets,” Alexander said. “They’re trying to hunker down and stay within their own resources. Why shouldn’t government do the same?”
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