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New taxes, gimmicks in Gregoire budget disappoint
Republican fiscal leaders
Rep. Gary
Alexander, lead
budget negotiator for Republicans in the House of Representatives, and
Rep. Ed Orcutt, lead tax policy negotiator for House Republicans, said
they’re disappointed Gov. Christine Gregoire chose to include new taxes
and continue an unhealthy trend of money-shifting in the $25.8 billion
2005-07 state operating budget she proposed today.
Gregoire’s first budget
proposal would be funded by reinstating a “death tax” and jacking up the
state tax on cigarettes 80 cents a pack by 2008. It would leave the
state only about $200 million in reserve, or less than 1 percent.
“Last week the governor made strong statements about changing the
culture of state government, yet today she releases a budget that
follows a theme we’ve seen too often: spend more than the state expects
in revenue and make up the difference through new taxes plus money grabs
from one-time sources. That isn’t what I would call a change in the
culture,” said Alexander, R-Olympia.
“This is a Gary Locke-type
budget. It’s unimaginative, and it completely ignores the factors that
are increasing the cost of health care and taking up a bigger share of
the budget for the state, businesses and families,” Alexander explained.
“Even the governor admits her budget is unsustainable and not
structurally sound. She talked repeatedly about how getting by isn’t
good enough, then she presents a plan that is all about ‘getting by’
until 2007, when she anticipates there would again be a deficit. The
taxpayers deserve better than this,” Alexander said.
Orcutt, R-Kalama, said the
projected $130 million death tax and $73 million cigarette tax in the
governor’s budget fly in the face of the positive state economic and
revenue forecast released Thursday. Orcutt, lead Republican on the House
Finance Committee and a member of the state Economic and Revenue
Forecast Council, said the forecast clearly suggests holding the line on
taxes in the 2003-05 budget has been good for the state’s economy.
“No matter what form
they’re in, tax increases take money out of the economy,” said Orcutt,
who with Alexander saw the budget numbers this morning at a legislative
breakfast with Gregoire. “The cigarette tax would hit lower-income
people and really have a detrimental effect in our border counties, like
the ones I represent, because it will drive consumers to Oregon and
Idaho.
“It’s an odd tax policy –
we try to educate kids to keep them away from tobacco, but the governor
claims to tie education funding to tobacco consumption,” Orcutt said.
“So, will the state encourage smoking to raise revenue, and when smokers
succumb to the cigarettes, we’ll tax them again by reinstating the death
tax? And is this really for education – or state employee pay raises?”
Alexander and Orcutt said
they’re encouraged by a few items in the budget, such as funding to
replace the loss of federal dollars by community mental-health clinics
and money toward a new correctional facility at Connell, but otherwise,
they have concerns about the governor’s budgeting priorities.
“Governor Gregoire told us
today she had a no-new-taxes budget ready after the revenue forecast
came out Thursday. Then on Friday she decided she wanted to reduce K-12
class sizes, as called for by Initiative 728, and add more slots for
students in higher education. That’s where the ‘death tax’ and the
cigarette tax come in,” Alexander noted.
“Here’s the message I take from her story: education is her top
priority, so she wants a tax increase to pay for it. But pay raises for
state employees and teachers are in her no-new-taxes budget.”
The Republican fiscal
leaders noted the Gregoire budget doesn’t include money to support
several spending bills passed by the House recently, including bills
that would have state government import prescription drugs from Canada
for distribution to Washington residents.
The next step in the
process belongs to legislative budget-writers who will take the
governor’s proposal into account. Alexander and Orcutt hope a
legislative budget plan emerges soon so the Legislature isn’t forced
into a costly special session.
“I don’t see how the
governor can call this a ‘legacy’ budget when she uses the same old
gimmicks we’ve seen before,” Alexander said. “The Democrats who control
the House and Senate have an opportunity to show the governor that they
can keep our state on the right track by proposing a budget that doesn’t
raise taxes.”
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For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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