Washington state residents can see the tide lapping at their feet, and if they would take a moment to look farther out, they will see the big wave headed their way. An overwhelming wave of new taxes.
The city of Everett just passed much higher business license fees, higher taxes on utilities, higher car tab fees, higher permitting fees and new taxes on cable and garbage bills.
Snohomish county raised property taxes, and gave its executives a 10 percent raise!
Statewide, I-1351 will add extremely large increases to property taxes, and add up to 10 cents to the gas tax, but still without completely funding the whopping $4.7 billion in new expenditures. Gov. Inslee and democrat legislators are jonesing for a new state income tax, and Gov. Inslee also wants exorbitant new gas taxes in order to cut carbon emissions and pay for new environmental programs.
We have had single-party rule in Everett, Snohomish County, and Washington State for decades now. For those of you who are paying attention, you might surmise that Democrats simply view you as money generating entities — nothing more. You may have also noticed that Democrats have overturned every tax limiting initiative that you and I have passed.
The last time we had an honest balanced budget (or even surplus) was in the mid-1990s during the period when Republicans controlled both the House and Senate in Olympia, and they did it without raising taxes.
Kurt Hanke
Everett
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