Schoesler calls state budget governor's "latest tax-and-spend scheme"

OLYMPIA – Representative Mark Schoesler of the Ninth District called the recently-released proposed state budget the “latest tax-and-spend scheme” by Governor Jay Inslee.

A member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee since joining the Senate in 2005, Schoesler said tax and spending issues have been among his highest priorities as a legislator.

“By serving on Ways and Means, I can provide a voice for families and businesses in our district and our state to keep taxes and spending in check,” Schoesler said, adding he strongly opposes creating a state income tax, something the governor has long pushed for.

“After seeing what Governor Inslee wants in a new state budget for 2021-23, and how he would pay for it, I was reminded of what my political hero Ronald Reagan said to Jimmy Carter in a debate during the 1980 presidential campaign: “There you go again.”

The state budget runs two years at a time, a biennium, making this Inslee’s fifth proposed biennial budget since being elected governor.

“It’s also the fifth time his budget would require new taxes to balance,” Schoesler said Dec. 18. “Going five-for-five is quite a streak for someone who told voters in 2012, when seeking his first term, that he didn’t see the need for new taxes.”

Schoesler said while the Legislature is not required to adopt anything the governor proposes, it’s already clear at least two of his tax proposals will be introduced by Democrats in the House.

Schoesler said Inslee is asking for a 10% increase in government spending, despite the fragile economy.

“You’d never know from looking at the new Inslee budget that our state is still dealing with a pandemic,” Schoesler said. “The state economy was severely wounded by his stay-home order and “nonessential” dictate, and it’s still fragile, but it has rebounded enough to avoid a budget deficit. Instead of being thankful for that and proposing a budget that stays within existing revenue, which would give families and employers time to recover from the economic fallout, the governor wants a $5.5 billion hike in spending.”

Schoesler said Inslee wants $1.2 billion in new taxes to back up his demands, and wants to drain the state’s rainy-day fund by pulling another $2 billion out of reserve.

Schoesler said Inslee is calling for splitting $200 million of the rainy-day funds between business assistance and rental assistance.

“I realize $100 million sounds like a lot, but considering how Washington employers are being faced with collectively paying 10 times that amount in 2021 to help refill the unemployment-insurance trust fund, it really won’t provide much relief to employers statewide,” Schoesler said. “It’s too little, too late, and another reason that we should have had a special legislative session months ago to work on pandemic relief when it would have helped more.”

Schoesler said the way he sees it, the state has a balanced budget now, so there’s no deficit to address. He said projected revenues could produce a new budget that is balanced without new taxes, and still make reasonable investments in pandemic-related needs. Schoesler said as an example, more support for mental-health services could be provided without touching the rainy day funds.

“Then we could look at using rainy-day dollars to make a real difference on relief for employers, whether it’s tax relief, regulatory relief or even cash relief,” Schoesler said.

Schoesler said the governor announced he will again pursue a state tax on income from capital gains.

“As long as the Internal Revenue Service views capital-gains income as taxable income, any state tax on capital-gains income also has to be viewed as an income tax,” Schoesler said. “Over the years we’ve seen majority Democrats do their best to find some other name – even calling it an “excise” tax, which is false.”

Schoesler said the governor again denied the tax being an income tax.

“Instead, he called it a “constitutional exercise of legislative authority,” Schoesler said. “Besides trying to mislead people about whether the capital-gains tax is really an income tax, Inslee was also misleading yesterday when he flatly stated additional revenue is ‘absolutely necessary.’ That’s hogwash. But then, as I’ve said for years, Inslee never met a tax he didn’t like.”

Schoesler also criticized Inslee pushing for a “clean fuel standard,” also known as a low-carbon fuel standard.

“No matter what it’s called, this is a fuel tax AND a carbon tax,” Schoesler said. “It would raise the cost per gallon by perhaps 57 cents, yet do nothing to improve roads.”

Schoesler called the proposed tax a tax on rural Washington, where people tend to drive longer distances for everyday reasons.

“Our 9th District ranks 39th out of the 49 legislative districts in median income, at under $55,000 annually. A carbon tax like the LCFS hits people at that income bracket a lot worse than the Puget Sound folks whose median income is more than $100,000 annually,” Schoesler said. adding Puget Sound residents have less need to drive long distances daily, and are less likely to have oil heat.

Schoesler pointed out that while the balance between Republicans and Democrats in the Legislature didn’t change in the November election, some of the older Democrats were replaced by younger Democrats.

“Inslee seems to think that will mean more support for this form of social engineering,” Schoesler said. “We’ll see. I would expect the same level of opposition from the private sector, especially from employers who are barely surviving now and have no interest in paying higher fuel costs for no visible benefit.”

Schoesler urges anyone with questions or concerns to reach out to him.

“I’ve got a list going for the session, so please write or phone,” Schoesler said. He can be reached at [email protected] or Legislative phone (360) 786-7620; toll-free 1 (800) 562-6000. You can also write him at

314 Legislative Building

P.O. Box 40409

Olympia WA 98504-0409