Richard S. Davis’ Wednesday column, “Want to kill state income tax idea? Send it to the voters,” reminded me again of the tortured, soap-operetic, history of Washington state’s tax system. (See Frank Chesley’s HistoryLink essay.) Even a cursory review of that history demonstrates at best, a quirkiness, and at worst, a serious self-destructiveness when it comes to taxes.
There is a whole series of special tax commission recommendations, legislative actions, referendums, initiatives and court rulings going back to the beginning of Washington’s statehood and up to the present that have been routinely enacted, voted out, voted back in, ignored, undercut or declared unconstitutional.
Both parties and Washington voters are all heartily invested in how this history unfolded. Our tradition has been to fund state obligations through a sales tax and a property tax. Later we added a business and occupation tax. So far this has worked, but only as well as its quirkiness allows.
We are currently in one of the many times when our state has had little money, and so the scramble is on just to cover the basics. Since I moved to this state in 1976, it has been a predictable pattern of feast or famine due to economic ups and downs. Just one example of how things work here is the initiatives for teachers’ salaries and classroom size. These mean nothing at all when an economic downturn takes place. With much less sales tax, which is our largest source of revenue, our best-laid plans come to a screeching halt.
I know there are a lot of ideological explanations for why this is so. Frankly, I don’t want to hear anyone’s ideological explanation because it is smoke and does nothing to fix the broken tax system. As far as economic explanations are concerned, they have been staring us in the face for years and have gotten no respect.
Yet, I am a privileged American and think it is worth investing in good health, good schools, good communities and a well-run state and federal government. I expect and want to pay my taxes and I want them to count. I don’t live in a house where we yo-yo between feast and famine. We have learned to manage our resources well so they are sufficient for the day. With all our good minds, good intentions and good will, shouldn’t the state be able to do the same?
Isn’t it time we stop the political games around taxes and start seeing them as a necessary part of our common life and learn to create them and manage them equitably, smartly and well? Isn’t it time we finally get over the burdensome tax history in our state and fix the tax system? Don’t we deserve a system that is less vulnerable to economic ups and downs and that will promote good business, government, schools and communities in good and bad times? Isn’t it time to see that something is broken and needs a deep fix? Isn’t it time we at least consider including an income tax as another option to help run our state?
Originally, Washington farmers championed an income tax because they were overburdened by property taxes. All of the many expert groups commissioned over the years to study our tax system included an income tax recommendation, only to have it defeated. If an income tax would lower our total tax burden, isn’t it in our best interest to at least look at it along with other reforms? I don’t want to join the cynics in believing that Washington voters are not smart enough to vote their own best interest. Now is the time to put ourselves to the test and see if we are up to it.
Jim Kutz lives in Arlington.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
