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Alexander, DeBolt say
taxpayers, economy
can’t afford House spending plan
The $26 billion budget
adopted by the House of Representatives tonight represents the largest
increase in state spending in more than a decade at a time when the
state can ill afford it, said
Reps. Gary
Alexander and Richard DeBolt.
The House budget passed on a 55-41 party-line vote.
“Revenue is expected to be
up 7 percent, and most local governments would be happy to see half that
much growth. But that’s not enough for the majority party,” said
Alexander, R-Olympia, who is lead Republican budget negotiator. “It
wants $1.1 billion in higher taxes and fund transfers and other revenue
on top of the $1.7 billion in additional revenue being generated by our
slowly improving economy. That’s easily the biggest jump in spending
we’ve seen since 1991. It’s simply not sustainable, and we’ll point that
out again next week when the bills required for their tax hikes come up
for a vote.”
"Our economy is beginning
to recover but families continue to struggle and jobs are scarce. As
long as these people are looking for work, it's difficult to justify a
12 percent increase in government spending and half a billion dollars in
tax increases," said DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "Families and employers are
being forced to tighten their belts because government refuses to do
so."
House Republicans were
able to gain agreement on a few amendments that made modest
improvements, like a change that would keep money from two environmental
cleanup and control funds from being shifted into the general fund. But
the House budget, like the plans proposed by the Senate and the
governor, still would set Washington taxpayers up for another huge
budget deficit in the next biennium, said DeBolt and Alexander.
“We should be making the
difficult decisions that will put our state on a financially stable and
responsible course. But the priorities we set in 2003, when we worked in
a bipartisan fashion to adopt a budget that didn’t raise taxes for the
general fund, apparently have changed drastically. I don’t see how the
budget the majority party adopted tonight reflects the priorities we’re
hearing from the people we represent,” said Alexander.
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For more information, contact:
Brendon Wold, Public
Information Officer: (360) 786-7698
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