My willingness to consider a high-earners income tax has gotten a great deal of attention on the blogs and in the press lately. I want to respond to some of the information circulating, and to some of the comments my office has received.
The reaction has been wide-ranging – as has the speculation about my true motives. But my goals in representing my district and for my position as Senate Majority Leader remain the same today as they were when I first came to the Legislature 15 years ago: my interest in the concept of a high-earners income tax stems from my fundamental commitment to fairness and opportunity for working families.
Our sales-tax-based tax system is least fair tax system in the country.
It hammers lower and middle class families, who pay far more than their fair share for the essential public services from which everyone in our society benefits, like K-12 and higher education.
And now they stand to pay more for less. The global economic meltdown has forced lawmakers to make dramatic cuts in the state budget, which will disproportionately affect these same individuals.
Having a conversation about restructuring this tax system so that working class families are treated more fairly is not a conversation I am afraid of having.
Lower and middle class families are hard-hit when times are good, and then take a double-hit when times are bad. It doesn’t take an economist to point out how unfair this is.
As the mother of a student in our public school system, and as a teacher of economics at Gonzaga University when I’m not in Olympia, I’m dismayed at the level of cuts the Senate budget – a budget I helped write – must make to education and higher education. This is not the budget I came to Olympia to put together.
I believe that any new revenues from a high-earners income tax should be dedicated to fund education and higher education in our state, which will help ensure that these two critical areas of state government have a stable and reliable funding source for years to come. This would be an investment in our state’s long-term economic stability.
I also believe that revenues from a high-earners income tax could be used to lessen the burden elsewhere in our tax system – the property tax, for example, or the B&O tax on businesses.
Introducing a new tax that 19 out of 20 people – including most people in Spokane – would NOT have to pay is one way of making our system more fair.
It may be the case that a majority of lawmakers decide to move in a different direction and look for new revenue through a sales tax increase. I would only support a sales tax increase if it included a rebate for working families.
During the presidential campaign, President Obama said it’s time for higher-income earners in our country to pay their fair share in taxes. His critics were wrong, and his critics lost.
I agreed with Obama during the election, and I believe same is true today in our state: It’s time for higher-income earners in Washington to pay their fair share in taxes.