By Hook or By Crook?

Source:  ShiftWA.org

A complete denial of the facts of our state’s revenue picture and eliminating citizens’ rights are the key aspects of the Democrats’ attempt to impose a state income tax on capital gains.  The Democrats have to go to these incredible lengths in order to open up a new income tax revenue stream to help fund Jay Inslee’s dream of a larger and more intrusive state government through the passage of SB 5096.  At a time when Washington State revenue last year was already projected to increase by 7% over the next two years, and with this number is expected to grow substantially thanks to increased tax collections being reported in the March 17^th state financial forecast, and with another federal bailout will increase revenues by an additional 7.5% (expected to be $4.2 billion), the Democrats’ House Finance Committee Chair still arrogantly believes “Now is the exact right time” to impose an unnecessary (and unconstitutional) state income tax on capital gains.  So, while the state is flush with cash, Representative Noel Frame (D – Seattle) believes we need to impose a new tax, that is unconstitutional, will be challenged in court, and will need the all-Democrat Washington State Supreme Court to overturn decades of previous court decisions (and 10 previous statewide votes) in order to be implemented.  And, the Democrats have included a phony “emergency” clause into the bill to prohibit voters from overturning the legislation through a referendum.  Thus, if lawmakers need to ignore basic revenue facts, eliminate citizens’ constitutional rights, and is dependent on the State Supreme Court reversing longstanding constitutional precedents in order to enact this tax, is the tax really justified? (Everett Herald/Cornfield Report and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

There are many who believe Democrat lawmakers are rushing their state income tax on capital gains bill through the legislature before the March 17^th state revenue forecast numbers are released. This is due to the belief that new financial figures will provide even more evidence that new taxes are not required to balance the state’s budget.  This afternoon we hear that there may be a vote in the Senate this Friday or Saturday on SB 5096.  The full Senate is where previous state income tax on capital gains bills have died. (Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

Republican House Leader JT Wilcox posted an interesting message on Facebook, regarding the irresponsible behavior of legislative Democrats for refusing to even consider reforming the governor’s emergency powers.  Wilcox wrote, “Democratic and Republican Legislators alike should be deeply concerned that the Legislature is likely to adjourn without any prospect of the Governor laying down his emergency powers. The wide-ranging impact of his proclamations make them complicated to unwind. Do Democratic leaders who control the Legislative agenda really contemplate an adjournment that leaves the Governor once again wielding emergency powers with no end in sight after more than a year?” (Facebook)

Now that the fight over Governor Jay Inslee’s costly and ineffective Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) moves to the State Senate, we wanted to provide a couple of items from the debate in the House chamber last Saturday that Democrats were hoping you’d miss.  First, the GOP caucus received significant social media attention with an informative  graphic on the LCFS it posted on Facebook.  Also, the caucus has released a four-and-a-half-minute video with some of highlights from the virtual debate which took place on Saturday.  Both are helpful for those seeking to learn more about LCFS and the disastrous impact it will have on Washington State’s economy, and how it will hurt low-income workers the most. (Facebook and House Republican Caucus/YouTube)

Washington State’s prospective home buyers continue to be forced out of the housing market.  As Shift highlighted in a recent article, Democrat legislators keep seeking to impose more home construction regulations through the Growth Management Act (GMA).  These regulations obviously increase home construction costs, making it more expensive to buy homes.  A recent survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) shows that Washington State’s average  new home price is $522,023 (6^th highest in the country). This price average means that 72% of state households could not afford an average-cost new home.  What is interesting is to look at the study’s “Metro Area” chart.  These figures reveal Eastern Washington home buyers have a more difficult time buying a new home than those in the Puget Sound area.  While 59% of households in the Seattle/Tacoma/Bellevue market cannot afford a new home, 76% cannot in Spokane, in Walla Walla the percentage is 78%, and in Yakima it is 80%.  So, when Seattle-area Democrat legislators add to the cost of new homes with more unnecessary GMA regulations, they demonstrate that they are apathetic to the struggle Eastern Washington prospective home buyers already face.  We should note that the purpose of NAHB’s survey is to show how many households are priced out of the new home market with every $1,000 being added due to regulations.  (NAHB State Survey, Shift Article, and NAHB Metro Area Survey)