Response to letter on Olympia’s means
In letter writer Jerry Oaksmith’s response to state Sen. Rosa Franklin’s thoughts on a state income tax [“Make more, spend more,” Opinion, Northwest Voices, Dec. 16], he ends by saying, “we need Olympia to live within the means we vote to give them.”
As a matter of act, Olympia is living within its means, which is why so many things are being slashed from the budget. Revenue from our state tax on retail sales — the topic of this discussion — has fallen significantly in the past fiscal year.
In the 2007 fiscal year it was $7.4 billion, in 2008 it was $7.7 billion, but for 2009 it had dropped to $6.9 billion, a 9-percent decrease.
This drop is a result of a failing economy, and with that economic change comes a significant increase in the need for state services, services we voted the state provide.
— Duane Wright, Seattle
Reinstating the car-tab tax
In “Washington state’s regressive tax system needs an overhaul” [Opinion, guest commentary, Dec. 14], state Sen. Rosa Franklin has it right.
Unfortunately, however, to many of Washington’s elected officials and many of our state’s voters, even discussion of a state income tax is anathema, though for different reasons: elected officials because they fear facing angry voters in their next election campaign, and for taxpaying voters because of fear that a state income tax will be an additional, and not a phased-in, replacement tax.
I would like to suggest a simple, quick-fix solution to the additional $2.8 billion shortfall in the state’s budget: reinstituting the car-tab tax based on the value of one’s car, historically one of the state’s most progressive taxes.
As Times readers may recall, Initiative 695’s elimination of the car-tab tax in 1999 immediately blew a yearly $2 billion hole in the state’s budget, a now $20 billion hole one could argue we are still struggling to fill.
At the time, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled Initiative 695 unconstitutional on a technicality, and yet then-Gov. Gary Locke decided to follow the will of the people and did not reinstitute the car-tab tax.
Yet people continue to want government to provide services the state does not have the resources to pay for.
People lived with the car-tab tax, and will get used to living with it again. The state desperately needs the revenue to pay for education, basic health insurance, infrastructure and so much more.
— Marvin Stern, Seattle
Hip hip, hurrah for state Sen. Rosa Franklin
Three cheers for state Sen. Rosa Franklin’s commentary arguing for a state income tax, with reductions to sales and property taxes.
It’s a disgrace that we have the most regressive system in the U.S., with the poorest paying much more of their income than the rich, who pay a pittance. Franklin deserves kudos for continuing to submit this bill to the Legislature.
Additionally, such a tax should be steeply graduated. The rich can afford to pay a high percentage of their income in taxes like they did in the 1960s, and they have a social responsibility to support the services many others so desperately need.
The cynical argument that income taxes on the wealthy and corporate taxes kill jobs is hogwash. While the fat cats amass more money than they can figure out profitable places to invest, any extra funds working and poor people get to keep, go right back into the goods and services that grow the economy.
The legislative majority’s decisions to cut essential services like the Basic Health Plan and slash state employee jobs hurt not only real people in need, but public health, welfare and the economy.
— Megan Cornish, Seattle
Thanks, but no thanks
Thanks, but no thanks, Sen. Rosa Franklin. We already have a state sales tax that is too high. The addition of a state income tax will only mean that there will be a huge increase in income to the state, for them to spend as they wish.
If a state income tax were to be proposed, it would have to be an amendment to the state constitution. Does anyone think that those in power will fix the income tax percentage in the amendment?
I think not.
To do so would fix their hands, and bar future increases in the percentages, without the consent of the people.
Former Gov. Mike Lowry became a one-term governor over his promise of “give me a 4 percent income tax and I’ll reduce the sales tax to 4 percent.” The people of Washington aren’t that stupid.
The promise of one person in government is meaningless. Yeah, reduce the sales tax to 4 percent. When the overall revenue generated by the sales tax drops even one penny, a crisis will force the rate back up to where it was before, or higher.
The people have to live within their individual means, why can’t the state. No one that I know gets 10-percent pay raises each year, so why should the state be allowed to spend as much as they want?
— Charles Lund, Shoreline