They're Back! Lawmakers Return to Olympia to Deal with Budget and Jobs

At noon on the ides of March, the special session began. The soothsayer's warning to Caesar should be heeded by taxpayers today and for as long as the session last. As legislative leaders scramble to line up the votes to pass a budget, struggling families and employers are at risk.

Austin Jenkins describes the process well at Crosscut, likening it to a business deal.

Once the size of the tax and spend boxes is established, the details of what to tax and what to buy have to be worked out. Some of the differences between the House and Senate are minor, but others are formidable. For instance, the Senate budget eliminates more than $100 million in K-4 class-size funding while the House mostly preserves it. On taxes, the Senate has approved a three-tenths-of-one-percent temporary sales tax hike while the House says the sales tax is a non-starter.

The trick for negotiators is bridging the budget and tax gap between the two chambers without jeopardizing too many votes in the process.

As Jenkins writes, the Senate budget and tax plans passed with the bare minimum 25 votes. We might expect that the no-margin majority gives the potential 25th vote on final passage considerable leverage. And we've seen how well that has worked in D.C., as health care trading led to the Cornhusker Kickback and a host of other unsavory deals. (You should also read Jenkins article for the rich treatment of the press conference at the close of the special session.)

The sales tax continues to divide Democrats. In The Daily News, Don Jenkins reports on Southwest Washington legislators favoring sales tax hikes. The group includes House Democrats who favor the Senate's sales tax increase.

Rep. Dean Takko, D-Longview, said Friday that a House-passed revenue package, which does not include a general sales tax increase, relies too much on "bits and pieces that hurt businesses."

"I think a small sales tax that's temporary spreads the burden out to more people and is fairer," Takko said.

And in the Kent Reporter, Reps. Dave Upthegrove and Tina Orwall write that the sales tax is not the answer.

Of all the possible ways the state could raise revenue, a hike in the sales tax is the worst possible choice. It is already regarded as a highly regressive tax that hits low and moderate income families harder, because they spend a larger proportion of their incomes simply buying the basics, such as clothing, shampoo, and school supplies for their kids. “Spreading the pain” should not mean balancing the budget in a way that hurts those on the lower end of the wage spectrum.

Hard to see a win-win, unless they do the right thing and scale back spending to minimize the tax hike.