WA Editorial Writers Tell Lawmakers to Rein In Spending, Go Easy on Taxpayers

Editorial reaction to the initial spate of tax proposals from Olympia has been uncommonly direct. We cited some critical editorials earlier, noting this from a TNT editorial.

Legislators can’t tax themselves out of this hole.

Today, the Seattle Times came out swinging:

WE want to take the Legislature by the lapels and shake it. The Democrats particularly. The taxing and spending plans now running free in Olympia are their plans, and mostly bad ones.

...Democratic leaders should be focusing on the repair of this state's private sector. Instead they focus on protecting state employees and beneficiaries. Gov. Chris Gregoire proposes $605 million of tax increases — about double the right amount, we think — and [key legislative leaders]  talk of increases as high as $900 million or $1 billion. 

The editorial supports priority setting, protecting education, and restructuring state spending (An earlier Times editorial welcomes public employees to the real world of paying more for their health care benefits.

The Columbia Basin Herald takes a dim view of the new "public morality" they see lurking behind targeted tax hikes.

Instead of taxing us to curb behavior the governor thinks is bad for us, she should focus on state spending. These proposals appear to ignore the financial problems our state has faced for the last few years.

Spending more tax money than we make.

The Chronicle says the governor was right in 2004.

She was right back then when she said mixing taxes with a recession is wrong. That still holds true today.

The Daily News criticizes the governor and legislature for failing to rein in  spending.

Most disappointing, however, is the weak start on reining in spending.

...Politics — the need to cater to an influential union constituency — apparently trumps common sense with this legislative majority. It's business as usual, even as the need change the way government does business becomes abundantly clear to most everyone. This is why the Legislature is struggling against a rising tide of red ink again this year and will likely be forced to do the same next year.

Washington Post columnist David Broder, covering the winter meeting of the National Governors Association, writes that the problem is widespread and not going away soon.

[NGA executive director] Scheppach told me that the realization is beginning to spread, among governors and legislators, that this is no ordinary downturn and there will be no quick bounce-back. Therefore, “the states will have to downsize permanently,” he said.

That's reality, not partisan or ideological rhetoric. And it's time to face it.