By Ron Friesen / Herald Forum
Happy 2026, Olympia!
How’s our tax system working? Are we taking care of our roads? No. Are we funding our schools? No. Are we taking care of our ferries and replacing them as needed? No. Are we meeting the needs of our citizens? No.
Washington has danced around and kicked the can down the road for more than 50 years, and this Democratic voter is well aware of who has held the reins of government much of this time. So no more hiding. No more Band-Aids. No more kicking the can down the road. Democrats, gut up or go home!
The plaintive reply we keep hearing is, “A constitutional amendment is required that requires 60 percent voter approval. It’s just too hard.” Boo hoo!
Welcome to my world in Marysville! We need to build new schools, which require passage of a construction bond, which requires 60 percent approval. When the time comes, we will do everything we have to do to get our next levy and any future construction bond passed. And we all fully understand that we are on our own. The state’s funding model puts Marysville at the bottom of the heap, just as Washington’s state tax model puts us at the bottom of the heap compared to all other states. Yay, Washington! Yay, Democrats!
Olympia lawmakers have known, session after session, that the state’s prototypical funding system for our schools is deeply flawed. A Band-Aid finally appeared last session to better fund special education. Big whoop. A huge pothole partially filled in, but no road rebuilds.
So now some historical perspective; please hang in here with me.
Washington’s sales tax was implemented in 1935, during the Depression, before World War II. Before that, the state only collected property taxes, and it was running out of money. Behold, the 2 percent sales tax! Everyone pays the same, it’s a small amount, so it’s fair, right? The foundation for our unfair, flat-tax system was laid.
By 1959, the sales tax had doubled to 4 percent. By 1983 it was 6.5 percent and has stayed there. But the rest of the story is local sales taxes have been added. Everett residents pay an extra 3.5 percent for county and local taxes for a total of 10 percent on sales of most items. Marysville’s rate is slightly lower. So in fact, our total sales tax percentage rate has more than doubled, twice, in 90 years. And there is no end in sight. And bonus! We pay the third-highest gas tax in the country.
Everyone knows that an income tax is the solution, but Olympia has botched this repeatedly. How? By not putting a cap on the sales tax. Maybe 4 percent? Some lawmakers have always wanted their cake and be able to eat it too by having the “flexibility” to have an income tax and the sales tax. Voters always said “NO!” Then they pouted and blamed the voters instead of looking in the mirror.
And here is another possibility lawmakers always passes up. Only levy the sales tax once, when an item is first sold. After that, used items sold do not get taxed. Arizona does this. Middle and lower income people benefit from lower prices and businesses selling used goods eliminate government red tape. It works very well.
This will be a lot of hard work for Olympia, and plenty of politicians will try to sabotage well-meaning lawmakers efforts. But if the right proposal is presented to the people that is finally fair, it will get approval. Come on, Olympia. Let’s go.
Ron Friesen is a Marysville resident, a retired music teacher and community and church musician and is committed to community improvement.
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