Gov. Inslee should offer tax relief

With Christmas coming up, I’ve been out shopping for gifts for family members.

During these busy times, I’m sure all of you have noticed (like I have) that many items in stores – especially groceries – have increased quite a bit in recent months due to inflation.

Now, you’d think Gov. Jay Inslee would be well aware of the financial hardship that this historic inflation — we’re talking the worst inflation since the early 1970s — is causing families and individuals statewide.

Judging by the rollout of his state supplemental operating budget last week, the guv seems far less interested in using the state’s historic revenue reserves to offer tax relief for hard-working Washingtonians in this dire time of inflation than he does in continuing his liberal legacy of tax-and-spend proposals.

The governor offered no tax relief in his budget plan.

In fact, when he was asked by a reporter about why his budget doesn’t include any tax relief, he sounded dismissive of the idea, noting that the state has this one-time money from the federal government. Well, OK then, governor, how about at least proposing one-time tax relief to people in our state?

One of my colleagues, Sen. Lynda Wilson (R-Vancouver), the Republican lead on the budget-writing Senate Ways and Means Committee, put it well: “The state treasury is on track to be billions of dollars ahead. Yet, the governor doesn’t have the heart to propose significant, direct tax relief for a single resident of our state. It’s as though he has no respect for the taxpayers.”

If Inslee and his fellow tax-lovers are afraid to actually offer long-term tax relief, I think there are some taxes that could be temporarily reduced until the end of the 2023-25 budget cycle, including the state portions of the sales tax and property tax, the business and occupation tax on manufacturing and the tax on cellphones.

Inslee’s latest operating proposal would add over $3 billion in new spending.

When you tack on this proposed spending with what his current two-year budget already is spending, we’re talking about 20% growth in state spending in the current biennium ($62.1 billion) versus the previous two-year budget cycle ($51.6 billion in 2019-21).

All told, there are about 700 distinct policy adds that are in the governor’s budget. It is clear that Inslee values all of them more than any tax or inflation relief for the people of our state.

Inslee responded to a reporter's tax relief question yesterday by saying we can’t afford it on an ongoing basis, but guess what: The vast majority of the governor’s new spending is permanent and ongoing.

– Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, represents the 9th Legislative District. Email him at [email protected].