Gov. Chris Gregoire released a statement today answering the question (what about an income tax?) that State Senate Majority Leader Sen. Lisa Brown raised yesterday.
The Governor said:
Tweet“I recognize the tremendous difficulties that legislators are facing as they craft a budget under these challenging economic conditions. However, as I have stated before, I do not support a state income tax. The new proposal will undoubtedly raise constitutional and legal challenges and probably wouldn’t bring in new revenue in time to address the economic crisis we face.
“I too wrote a budget, and I am keenly aware of the painful choices we must make. I see clearly the faces of Washingtonians hurt by budget cuts. I am looking for wise choices to protect our vulnerable, especially our children, and to make sure we fund K-12 and higher education at appropriate levels so that we come out of this recession stronger. We can’t afford to just ride out this economic crisis and wait for things to turn around. We must emerge from it ready to resume our powerful progress in a 21st Century economy.”
What Lisa Brown is floating is not an across-the-board income tax, but a high incomes income tax. I think that is an important distinction.
Another point: set at one percent or less, my understanding is that such a tax would pass constitutional muster. A rate higher than that would provoke a constitutional challenge. But some of the state’s leading income tax advocates, like Bill Gates Snr. and constitutional law attorney Hugh Spitzer, believe that the state Supreme Court decision in the 1930s overturning the voter-approved income tax is constitutionally dubious and ripe for a revisit.
The governor is correct, though, that a high incomes income tax would take time to implement and would not have much if any impact on the short-term budget hole.
Sandeep, you sound like a spokesman; does your mentor Greg Nickels agree with you on this issue? Considering your close association with the wealthy/political machine that runs this town, isn’t Nickels a bit concerned about the possibility of you “going off the reservation” in blog comments. Perhaps your comments are approved by him/Ceis before posting? When do you intend to run for office yourself? Do you plan on working your way up through the ranks-city, county state-or simply starting at the top? How well do you get along with Paul Allen and Frank Blethen? Do you consider the emerging political career of Dan Savage to be a threat to your own ambitions?
Mike,
The answer to your questions in order are:
No idea — we haven’t talked about it (btw, I just started working for the Nickels campaign about 10 days ago, so Greg Nickels hardly qualifies as my “mentor”).
No. My comments are my own. As I said in a previous comment, if I make a comment related to my spokesperson role on this or any other blog I will flag my status so readers can decide for themselves what weight to give it.
I don’t — have zero ambition to hold political office.
Never met Paul Allen. I’ve met Frank Blethen a couple of times in passing at events. I don’t agree with him on a lot of things — and a few times have written things that were critical of him and his newspaper — but I found him to be a pretty likeable guy in person. He has a sense of humor, which goes a long way with me.
No. Dan is a friend. Not sure he has an “emerging political career” but if it turns he does, why would it be a threat?
Sandeep, I just read a story in The Stranger by political editor/shoplifter of cheap grocery store wine Erica Barnett about Cyndi Laws leaving Holmes for Carr in the city attorney race. Who says there is no morality in politics. But it makes me wonder why a guy like you Sandeep who recently worked for Darcy Burner would work for a plutocrat asshole like Nickels. Do you, like Cyndi claimed in justifying her job switch, simply need a job? Or do you believe in the Nickels agenda of developing a world class city few of us will be able to afford to continue to live in?
Governor Gregoire proposed a 13% cut to higher ed, and the State House proposed a 28% cut. So her talk about funding higher ed right now is a bunch of crap.
No, John, I like the mayor and think he has done a good job. That is why I took the gig when it was offered to me [again, for those who have not been paying attention to previous comments, I am working as Mayor Nickels' campaign spokesman].
Also, I have to correct an error I made in comment #1 above. A one percent income tax would not raise constitutional issues if it applied evenly across all income classes. A high incomes income tax, of the sort Sen. Brown has floated, would provoke a constitutional challenge, as constitutional law attorney Hugh Spitzer said in Andrew Garber’s story in today’s Seattle Times (though Spitzer believes it would eventually pass muster). My bad.
@6 Well done Sandeep. Why anyone reading the comments of a spokesperson for a Mayor would think that the comments this spokesperson makes supports the agenda of that Mayor is just cynical.
And Sandeep, like a majority of citizens in Seattle, i don’t like the Mayor and think that he has done a crummy job.
Publicola is seriously tainted by it’s relationship with you and, through you, the Mayor.