Legislative Commentary

Dear Friends,

Last week I mentioned the visit WSU President Kirk Schulz made to Ritzville in late September without noting that it was not his introduction to my hometown. Within months of arriving in Pullman in 2016, President Schulz came up to meet me at the farm, and before Mrs. Schoesler treated us to a terrific dinner I drove him around to some of the good spots for hunting in the area. I’ll probably be back in at least one of those spots this weekend, as one of the many outdoorsmen (and women) in the 9th District who will go afield for the start of modern-rifle deer season.

I was able to be a guide again this week when the bus tour hosted by the Association of Washington Business stopped in Ritzville as part of its second annual Manufacturing Week promotion. AWB’s high-visibility support for Washington’s manufacturing sector is tied to “Manufacturing Day,” observed the first Friday of October by the National Association of Manufacturers. As leader of the Senate Republicans, who have ranked job creation as a top priority (right up there with education and responsible, sustainable budgeting) for many years, I appreciate how AWB serves not only as the state’s chamber of commerce but also as its manufacturing association.

In conjunction with AWB’s promotion of the state’s manufacturers, Governor Inslee proclaimed October as “Careers in Manufacturing Month.” It was an appropriate gesture, but no one should forget that only about 15 months ago, Inslee was anything but supportive of the working families who are supported by manufacturing. That’s when he vetoed bipartisan tax-fairness legislation passed by the Legislature that would have done much more for Washington manufacturers than a proclamation.

A new Democrat pushes for a state income tax:

My previous commentary reported how state government’s financial picture still looks bright, based on the third quarterly revenue forecast for the year. With revenue running well ahead of projections, why on earth would the state schools superintendent now be calling for a billion-dollar tax increase -- through a new state income tax? And it doesn’t stop there: in his agency’s budget proposal for the next two-year cycle, he wants another billion dollars for K-12 on top of the additional billions the Legislature has appropriated in the past several years.

Let’s start with the question of whether K-12 education needs more money. It’s fair to say that while the improvements we made to the education-funding system in 2017 were a huge step forward, we all knew some tweaks might have to be made as the reforms took hold. Special education is one example; mental health and counseling may be another. But a billion dollars and a list of 11 areas (like “family and community coordinators” -- see photo) is far more than a tweak.

Now for the bad (and unconstitutional) idea of a first-ever state tax on personal income. The schools superintendent, Chris Reykdal, is a former Democratic member of the House from Thurston County who supported the idea of a state-level capital-gains income tax when running for his current job in 2016. Reykdal figures on generating $1 billion from a state income tax and would use it to pay down the state property tax rate for schools. At the same time he wants to relax the cap on local levies, probably to help school districts that need more money to cover the unsustainable pay raises they just gave to teachers.

Income tax aside, Reykdal’s proposal would begin to undo the school-funding reforms Democrats and Republicans agreed on just last year. It would probably mean higher taxes overall for property owners.

As I mentioned last week, the Legislature should be looking for opportunities to provide tax relief. And this is a good place to remember that Senate Republicans proposed property-tax relief this year, using some of the unexpectedly high amount of revenue available, and the Democrat majority said no – not once but four times. Now we have a prominent Democrat elected official proposing property-tax relief, but only in exchange for Washington’s first state tax on personal income. It’s reprehensible.