{"id":359456,"date":"2010-02-24T18:22:17","date_gmt":"2010-02-24T23:22:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011177460_taxtalkcandycigarettetouristandbusinesssolutions.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-02-24T18:22:17","modified_gmt":"2010-02-24T23:22:17","slug":"tax-talk-candy-cigarette-tourist-and-business-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/359456","title":{"rendered":"Tax talk: candy, cigarette, tourist and business solutions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lack of health care accrues costs exponentially<\/strong><\/p>\n

Editor, The Times:<\/p>\n

I agree that the \u201ccharmed\u201d quality of life is at risk in Washington state but for very different reasons than The Seattle Times [\u201cLegislators should focus on cuts before taxes,\u201d Opinion, Feb. 21].<\/p>\n

There is nothing charming about 100,000 people becoming uninsured overnight. There is nothing charming about temporarily disabled Washingtonians not getting the treatment they need to get healthy and back to work. There is nothing charming about hospital costs and insurance premiums going up because people have lost access to preventive care.<\/p>\n

Washington state is not in this situation because of decisions made in Olympia. We are in this situation because of an unprecedented economic recession. And the proposals made by The Seattle Times for closing the budget gap will simply not get us there.<\/p>\n

Without new revenue sources, programs like General Assistance-Unemployable and Basic Health will be eliminated and we\u2019ll all pay exponentially. Simply put, Washington cannot afford to eliminate basic health care. We can, however, afford to eliminate tax loopholes and pay small tax increases. These measures are a small price to pay.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Rebecca Kavoussi, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Taxing out-of-state visitors<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was intrigued by the idea of paring special-interest tax breaks to boost the state\u2019s budget as outlined in Jim Brunner\u2019s piece \u201c$500M in tax breaks targeted\u201d [News, Feb. 24]. I think the notion of adopting a plan for out-of-state visitors to apply for a tax rebate makes sense.<\/p>\n

As a tourist in B.C. Canada, I have successfully used their system of recouping the GST \u2014 goods and services tax \u2014 and also occasionally declined to apply for it and let my taxes benefit my Canadian neighbors. This seems to me a more appropriate strategy to add to the state\u2019s coffers than removing the voter-approved car-tax break that would cripple the automotive industry\u2019s efforts to stay afloat and hurt consumers as well.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I think the Senate\u2019s plan for increased scrutiny concerning any tax break is needed \u2014 along with a proposed end date. Whether it serves the public\u2019s best interest is imperative and must be firmly applied so that the outcome is fair as well as lucrative for the state. With \u201c$50 billion a biennium worth of state tax breaks on the books,\u201d surely there must be a way to bridge the Democratic and Republican standoff and reallocate some of these funds for the good of all.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Jaime Seibert, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Taxes hurt poor, do little to plug gap<\/strong><\/p>\n

Why are we considering revenue proposals that will only increase inequities between Washington\u2019s rich and poor citizens? [\u201cOlympia\u2019s tax plans: How they\u2019d affect you,\u201d page one, Feb. 24]. According to the D.C.-based Tax Foundation, Washington is already one of the top-10 states for combined state and local sales taxes (third highest), gasoline taxes (also third highest) and cigarette taxes (eighth highest).<\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s incomplete answer to the state\u2019s $2.8 billion budget shortfall does not even raise enough revenue to prevent further severe cuts to necessary state-funded services like education. Democratic leaders have made statements that they would like to see higher revenue-proposals \u2014 $900 million or so \u2014 which is still far short of what is needed to balance the state budget.<\/p>\n

State leaders talk a good game about reforming our tax system, but only in the offseason. We cannot try to cut our way out of this problem, especially when those cuts continue to tear away the social-safety net.<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s regressive revenue system unfairly burdens the working class by taxing consumption rather than income. Instead of placing a greater tax burden on those struggling most in this economy \u2014 as current Olympia proposals surely would \u2014 let\u2019s focus on progressive reforms to make our revenue structure more reliable and fairer to all citizens.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Sam Whiting, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Burning fat through taxes<\/strong><\/p>\n

Moving here from California was a shock: $5-$10 more for bottom-shelf liquor, $6 for cigarettes. But why?<\/p>\n

Five years later I have adapted. I now recognize I am a sinner and hence pay a higher tax on my \u201cvices.\u201d There has been a multi-decade movement to eliminate smoking in the United States, and while I applaud its motives, I believe it\u2019s time that another demographic faced this same tax discrimination: fat people.<\/p>\n

Heart disease now kills more people than lung cancer and although the two can be linked, the 67 percent of Americans who are overweight or obese certainly contribute to the statistics.<\/p>\n

All I\u2019m saying is, if cigarette [taxes] are going up another dollar, why couldn\u2019t the cost of Dorito\u2019s and Hungry Man TV dinners go up the same amount? I\u2019m sure taxing the vices of the overweight could bring in more than the $86 million increase expected from cigarette revenue.<\/p>\n

If the government is claiming to look out for our health in its efforts to wean our bad habits, why can\u2019t we kick the butt and the gut?<\/p>\n

\u2014 Savannah Willow, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n

Taxing businesses<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m angry and saddened by recent ads sponsored by some businesses opposing business tax proposals and saying that we just need to \u201creduce the size of government.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under current law, many companies are not required to pay Washington\u2019s Business and Occupation tax even though they do a significant amount of business in the state. According to the Washington State Budget and Policy Center, the Senate budget released Tuesday would provide a more reasonable standard of determining which businesses operating in Washington are liable for B&O taxes, generating about $73 million in the current biennium.<\/p>\n

The Senate budget also would make $838 million in cuts, severely gutting our health, education and environmental infrastructure. These cuts come on top of the $3.6 billion eliminated last year. Last year\u2019s cuts will result in thousands of Washingtonians finding higher education unaffordable, tens of thousands of working families losing their health insurance and larger class sizes for kids in our public schools.<\/p>\n

Unemployment has hit my family hard, but we do our part to preserve critical human services. Businesses should do theirs too. Please, legislators, share the responsibility with businesses and don\u2019t cave to their demands. While you\u2019re at it, institute a state income tax and reform our regressive tax system.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Barbara Ramey, Kirkland<\/em><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t balance budget on farmers\u2019 backs<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a wheat farmer and farm some of the land that my great-grandfather homesteaded in the 1800s. My grandfather farmed it, my father farmed it and I have farmed it for about 40 years.<\/p>\n

Our legislators are working to balance our state\u2019s budget. One proposal is to remove our sales tax exemption on diesel fuel that we use in farm equipment \u2014 fortunately, I think that fuel you use in your car will still be exempt from sales tax. Another proposal is a B&O tax on farmers. This is probably kind of like what is included in the invoice from my attorney.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, the wheat I produced was selling at a price that ensured me a profit. Today, the economy is poor and the wheat price is below my cost of production. Unlike some products, we can\u2019t just add new costs to our wheat price. If our costs go up, we just lose more and that can\u2019t go on very long.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t envy our legislators\u2019 difficult job, but making my industry worse isn\u2019t going to feed hungry people and it will probably be detrimental to our state in the not-too-distant future.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Nat Webb, Walla Walla<\/em><\/p>\n

Simple solution: cut across the board<\/strong><\/p>\n

The budget deficit appears to be somewhere near 5 percent, which should be easy to overcome with no tax increases.<\/p>\n

During times like this, the successful company where I worked would use a very simple and effective method: Every organization in the company would be asked to cut its budget by 5 percent, with no reduction in products and services. Managers who said they could not do it would be replaced by managers who could and it worked!<\/p>\n

\u2014 Andrejs Zamelis, Burien<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lack of health care accrues costs exponentially Editor, The Times: I agree that the \u201ccharmed\u201d quality of life is at risk in Washington state but for very different reasons than The Seattle Times [\u201cLegislators should focus on cuts before taxes,\u201d Opinion, Feb. 21]. There is nothing charming about 100,000 people becoming uninsured overnight. There is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-359456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359456\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}