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House Republican $3.3 billion tax relief proposal
would offer $400 property tax rebates to homeowners
GOP package
includes relief for employers, employees, agriculture
House Republicans today
proposed $400 tax rebates for Washington homeowners, the return of money
overpaid by employers and employees into two state funds, and tax relief
for agriculture. The tax relief package would total approximately $3.3
billion and leave $1 billion available to cover new spending and a
"rainy day" reserve fund.
"There's been so much talk
in Olympia this session about what to do with the surplus in the state's
general fund, as though the money is government's to keep. It isn't.
That money belongs to the taxpayers, and our proposal would give a huge
amount of it back to them without requiring a single cut to a single
service the state provides," said House Republican Leader Richard
DeBolt, R-Chehalis. "It's a rare opportunity to return billions of
dollars to taxpayers, employers and workers who will almost certainly
turn around and put much of it back into our economy."
"Government is good at
taxing the people when it wants money. Now that there's more money in
the general fund than is needed, government ought to be giving some of
that money back to the people," said Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama,
who is Republican leader on tax policy. "This is one-time money, and the
Legislature shouldn't use it to launch and expand state programs which
will be a drain on the budget in coming years. We propose setting aside
a reasonable amount -- a billion dollars is plenty reasonable in my book
-- and return the rest to the people. The safest place for a surplus is
in the hands of the taxpayers."
The Republican proposal
would put $400 million into a rainy-day fund and set $600 million aside
to allow for new spending by the Legislature, or additional savings. The
approximately $900 million of surplus general-fund revenue remaining
would be returned to taxpayers, primarily through $400 property tax
rebates to Washingtonians who paid property tax on their primary
residence in 2006. Those claiming the rebate would have the option of
keeping it or turning it back to the government, either to the general
fund or specifically for spending on their choice of service: education,
health care, parks or transportation.
Washington's unemployment
insurance trust fund and workers' compensation contingency reserve both
are overflowing. House Republicans would keep a responsible reserve in
those two accounts and return the rest -- an estimated $2.4 billion --
to employers and employees who contributed to the funds in the first
place.
The state's number-one
industry, agriculture, also would receive an estimated $40 million in
relief through Republican measures to reduce the tax burden on growers
and help Washington farmers and related industries, like sawmills.
"The state has seen
significant growth in revenue without any tax relief for citizens. We're
impressed with how this proposal provides meaningful property tax relief
and payroll tax relief that would increase the income of workers across
the state. We think this idea is both balanced and responsible -- it
would definitely work," said Paul Guppy, vice president for research at
the Washington Policy Center.
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