Lawmakers Consider Tax Hikes - Bad Idea

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown was quick off the line with a blog post welcoming Gov. Gregoire's apparent new willingness to consider tax hikes. Brown writes:

While [the governor's statement] puts a revenue increase squarely on the table for the Legislature and Governor to consider, any revenue package needs public understanding of the problem – and public support of the solution – in order to succeed.

As we saw last year, that’s no easy feat.

That's because the public understands what the governor and majority leader don't seem to get: Tax hikes now hurt families and damage the recovery.

Here's how the Seattle Times reports Brown's message. Divided opinion in the comments thread, but mostly underscoring why convincing the public to support a tax hike is "no easy feat."

All this tax tax, of course stems from the state's deteriorating budget position. Although there's little new news, except the new attention to the awful pension shortfall, legislative days in Olympia provided another venue for airing the dirty fiscal linen.

We're looking at a budget shortfall in the $1.5 billion range - a tough challenge in the short session.