Tax and Spending Continue to Divide Democrats, Prolong Special Session

I like Andrew Garber's description of the special legislative session in the Seattle Times.

The special session has come down to a game of chicken, in slow motion.

Although Democratic leaders have agreed to increase taxes by $800 million, they remain split on what taxes to raise. The Senate wants the 0.3 percentage point increase in the sales tax; the House doesn't want the sales tax bump.

And, most taxpayers oppose raising taxes by nearly a billion dollars on a recession-wracked economy with unemployment approach 10 percent.

Gov. Chris Gregoire is meeting with leaders and urging a compromise. The governor has said she doesn't like the idea of sales tax but so far hasn't been willing to threaten a veto to move lawmakers off center.

According to AP, the veto threat may yet be hauled out.

Gregoire said she hasn't used the threat of a veto to nix a sales tax during revenue negotiations. But the second-term Democrat made clear that she's keeping the veto pen at hand if needed.

"That's an option that I'm holding right now," Gregoire said Monday. "I'm just trying to work both sides, so that they can work together and come to a resolution. So, what they have before them is a way to raise sufficient revenue without a sales tax."

Although the governor has apparently put together a tax package, she's not sharing it publicly.

Gregoire declined to reveal any additional details of her revenue proposal, which was presented to tax negotiators Wednesday. Legislative leaders also refused to talk about the offer, saying their caucus membership needed to be briefed.

While this has been a year of legislative sleight-of-hand, with title-only bills and hurry up hearings, I think the public would like to know the governor's tax preferences.

Speaking of tax preferences, Publicola gives Budget and Policy Center president Remy Trupin a guest op-ed to praise legislation that would sunset tax exemptions after five years.

The legislation should be buried rather than praised. What business investors look for is tax certainty, a stable environment that's conducive to long-range planning. Introducing five-year windows of uncertainty makes no sense. 

Neither, of course, does a billion dollar tax increase.