I Am the Tax Man, Ooo, Ooo Tax Man

Source: ShiftWA.org

A new report from the Washington Policy Center exposes a significant contradiction from a major promotor (and likely benefactor) of the Democrats’ Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) proposal.  Tim Zenk, a high-priced Washington State lobbyist for the Norwegian company Naste (which will financially benefit from the higher energy costs Jay Inslee wants to impose on Washington residents) testified at a state House hearing that California has lower gas prices now than when it passed its LCFS in 2011 (the truth is prices are higher).  Despite facts not being on Zenk’s side in WA, it also appears clear that his employer knows the truth about a cost-raising LCFS. After all, Naste representatives told California regulators not to impose a cap on how high an LCFS could increase fuel costs, and allow gas prices to continue to climb (and make it profitable for them to develop more expensive energy sources). Thus, while talking to Washington State lawmakers, Naste’s representatives claim an LCFS will not increase energy costs, yet in California, they do not want to stop prices from escalating. Hypocrisy much? (Washington Policy Center)

As Democrat legislators continue to use the failed policies of the City of Seattle as their roadmap to impose more government control and higher taxes on Washington State residents, one of their silly copycat (and highly regressive) ideas is a tax on “sugary drinks,” similar to the one Seattle implemented in 2017.  The legislation (SB 5371) would tax sweetened beverages 1.75 cents per ounce, thus increasing the cost of a 12-ounce can by 21 cents.  Numerous studies have found that low-income families usually end up paying the most when similar taxes have been imposed elsewhere.  In 2018, after the City of Seattle imposed its “soda tax,” Washington state voters overwhelmingly supported I-1634, which banned other local governments from imposing a similar tax.  Once again, Democrats are ignoring the concerns of Washington voters as they continue to increase the cost of living in Washington State, so liberal lawmakers can keep expanding the size of government.  (KING5 News, Washington Legislature Bill Summary, Tax Foundation, and Secretary of State 2018 Vote Totals)

Matt McIlwain penned an effective op-ed in the Seattle Times which refutes many of the “myths” the Democrats are arguing as they push to implement an unconstitutional state income tax on capital gains.  McIlwain relied on facts the Democrats choose to ignore, to destroy their position.  The Democrats’ argument that the state needs the money is refuted easily by the fact that tax revenues have increased over the last budget, and are projected to increase during the next one. The fact that the IRS and all 49 other states consider a capital gains tax as a tax on income is a strong argument against the Democrats claim that their proposal is an excise tax, not an income tax. And since Washington voters have rejected other income tax proposals the last 10 times in a row the question has been put to them, it’s pretty clear that the state’s citizens do not support the Democrats’ bonehead proposal.  McIlwain also points out that while this proposal currently targets the wealthy, he predicts that Democrats will soon follow their own history and find reasons to expand the tax to middle income families. (Seattle Times)

The Seattle Times joins the long list of Washington State newspapers in opposing the Democrats’ greedy proposal to pass an unconstitutional income tax on capital gains.  The state’s largest paper argues that, “Senate Bill 5096 amounts to taxation for taxation’s sake.”  The editorial goes on to explain the bill’s “numerous” deficiencies, before taking special aim at the bill’s “misapplication” of the emergency clause, which “precludes the right of voters to challenge the tax by referendum,” and the paper believes is a “flat-out abuse of authority.” No wonder, with press coverage like that from their friends, that Democrats don’t like to admit in public that they are trying to create a state income tax. (Seattle Times and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)