More Thoughts On Governor's Budget Proposal

As the only game in town for those who care about such things, the governor's budget continues to draw a crowd. Much of the stuff is a rehash of entrenched positions taken long before Gov. Gregoire put a plan on the table. Long before last week's announcement, everyone knew the two overriding conditions governing the budget: the structural deficit for the next biennium exceeded $5 billion and the governor opposed tax hikes. So, not much room for surprise.

The no-new-tax pledge, however, does not extend far beyond the governor's office, as Rachel La Corte's AP story makes clear.

"We don't agree with this, that from square one, we cannot raise a dime of new revenue," said Cassie Sauer, spokeswoman for the state Hospital Association.

...The Sierra Club, for example, quickly pitched closing tax exemptions for old-line energy industries in favor of "green" initiatives and spending on state parks.

The Washington Federation of State Employees, whose members would suffer layoffs and flat pay under Gregoire's budget, also called for shrinking tax loopholes.

So far, it looks like most groups are resigned to the idea that tax increases will be put to a public vote. In The News Tribune, Joe Turner underscores one of the arguments working against new taxes: Despite all the cuts, state spending would be $1.2 billion higher.

The $3 billion in "cuts" that Gregoire referred to in her budget release remarks are cuts from a "maintenance level." That is, first you inflate your spending to account for all the increases in inflation (salaries) and caseloads (more kids in school), THEN you cut.

So that's how you can cut $3 billion and still end up spending $1.2 billion more.

Yesterday's Seattle Times budget editorial says Gregoire balanced interests well. And Peter Callaghan in The News Tribune says that, unless we learn from this crisis, we can count on it happening again.

...to say now that budget decisions didn?t contribute to the current red-ink menace means we learned nothing? again. It means we?ll act the same way the next time we?re flush with tax revenue. It means we?ll go through yet another episode of deep budget cuts after the next crash.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown shares her lecture notes to give us an idea of how she'll approach budget writing next month. She does not rule out a tax hike.

And on his much-improved blog (referring to look, feel and function - content's always good), Rich Roesler notes that the state workers' union promises a fight to resist cuts.

It's going to be a long session.