Gov. Chris Gregoire announced a plan today that would streamline the way that small businesses pay local taxes and apply for a business license.

Under her proposal, Washington state would become the sole collector of all local and state B&O taxes, or business and occupation taxes. It would also create a single state website where businesses can obtain a business license, eliminating the 50 or so websites that are now run by individual cities.

Currently, if a business has operations in more than one city it may have to pay the B&O taxes to multiple cities  – a system that is “at its best complicated, and at its worst a nightmare,” Gregoire said. Her proposal would bring the collection of all B&O taxes under the state’s jurisdiction, much like the sales tax.

Gregoire said she is also issuing an executive order to determine if the restaurant industry has too many state and local regulations that are hindering business. ”Do we need all these inspectors? Do we give conflicting advice? We’ll find out the answers so that businesses can get on with their bottom line, ” Gregoire said.

Gregoire is also directing $1.1 million in federal funds to specific job training programs, including:

• Training 460 veterans for a careers in manufacturing
• Providing paid internships and professional training to at-risk, low-income youth
• Offering on-the-job training for 300 women and minorities working in the construction and transportation sector

Tags: B & O taxes, business licenses, employment, Gov. Gregoire, Jobs, small business

Tags: taxes

If you prefer the long version of what was said at the noon press conference in the Senate Democratic caucus room, scroll down and read the dispatches posted in real time. I’ll also post the video soon.

If you don’t have time, here’s the basics:
- Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown said the “high-earners” income tax is dead for this session.
- Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she’ll continue to fight for it until Sine Die — scheduled for Sunday.
- Brown said she was unsure whether the House would pass the .3 percent sales-tax-for-healthcare bill. If they did, she said she’s unsure whether it would come up on the Senate floor.
- Brown said the budget should come out today, possibly very late. It will come out of the House first, she said. It then may or may not be referred to the Senate Ways & Means committee.
- Sen. Adam Kline said he believes people are increasingly realizing that the state’s tax system is unfair.
- Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles said she is introducing a bill today or tomorrow to extend the sales tax to candy and gum. The money would go to child healthcare and immunizations, which she said were damaged in the budget. She reminded everyone that bills introduced this session are still alive next session.
- Kohl-Welles also said she thinks an income tax that could withstand Constitutional challenges is on the horizon.

Tags: tax

Today at 12:15, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown will hold a press conference on the “unfair tax system” with Sens.: Joe McDermott, Adam Kline, Jeanne Kohl-Welles and others. TVW will be there and air the press conference as soon as we can. I’ll keep you updated here.

Tags: income tax

Since you (probably) couldn’t be there, I’m posting the videos from this morning — both the House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee and the subsequent Republican caucus rebuttal to the tax vote — here.

The committee — particularly the discussion before the vote — is interesting stuff because many of the lawmakers on the committee take a moment to describe the philosophy behind their vote. Enjoy.

On the subject of taxes, I mentioned in an earlier post that Rep. Gary Alexander didn’t think people would die if a tax wasn’t passed but, he said, he did believe people would lose their jobs. Joe Turner from The News Tribune has a mathematical explanation of that here.

Brad Shannon asked: What’s wrong with letting the voters decide?

Rep. Gary Alexander: “The question of any kind of tax increase, to me, does not make any sense. To go out and ask the voters … is only for one reason: Because they don’t have the votes to do it here.” He also said he was elected by the voters to lead, and that he thinks passing the package to voters isn’t leadership.

Shannon asked if that was a philosophical change, citing previous referenda that Republicans have voted on in the past to send to the public.

Rep. Richard DeBolt said the issue is that it’s “offensive” to put healthcare to voters because it’s the item that polled the best.

Tags: tax

Now, I’m at the press conference for the House Republican response to the tax package.

“Today as we just saw, the Democrats passed a $1.1 billion tax increase out of committee,” said Rep. Doug Ericksen.

Rep. Gary Alexander: “You heard me be very consistent: This is not the time to impose aditional taxes on the citizens in this state. They are not in the position budgetary wise. We ask every citizen in oru state to live within their means … but we don’t require that for government? Government can and should live within its means.”

Alexander said the majority party hasn’t used the priorities of government. He cited GAU — General Assistance Unemployable — as a program that could go. “It is time when we just have a more responsible position.”
Rep. Joe Schmick: “We’re taking in more dollars this year than we did last year… that’s more revenue than we took in last year but when we’re facing these times, here’s some practical things that we should be considering,” he said, including a 3 percent rollback for every state employee and more employee contributions to healthcare. “We’ve not talked about delivery of services and how we can do these things differently.”

Mike Lawrence, a safety management consultant for the trucking industry (and I’m guessing on spelling): “The trucking industry is being hit extremely hard right now … the state and federal government is taxing us to death.” He said “every time we turn around, somebody in government has got their hand out.” He said the trucking industry has been upset at “trying to generate revenue for the state through enforcement tools.”

Tags: tax

Rep. Eric Pettigrew, continued from post below: “If you had asked me, I’d rather have tax reform. But, given that and given that people need us — htey need us right now. I’m not talking about 10 years from now,” he said. “With that, I urge this body to vote for this so we can move it on to the public and they’ll decide.”

The committee then voted on the bill: 8 yes, 7 no. It passed.

(The first time the clerk announced the vote, she tranposed the numbers: 8 nay, 7 aye. There was an audible gasp in the room before several representatives pointed out that she flipped the numbers.)

Tags: healthcare, tax

The House Health and Human Services Appropriations Committee is back from caucus and is now working on the bill to increase the sales tax by .3 percent to cover healthcare.

Now, for debate:

Rep. Joe Schmick: “Well, it seems here we are in Olympia and it’s the same old story: We’re going to have to raise taxes,” he said. “These taxes are scheduled to go away in a few years but the spending never does.”

Rep. Eileen Cody: “We have really gone over this budget and I do believe that providing healthcare … is one of the priorities of government,” she said. “The way we have our healthcare set up now, tied to employment, is a problem — we all know that.”
(more…)

Tags: healthcare, tax

I just arrived at the hearing in the House Health & Human Services Appropriations Committee for Rep. Eric Pettigrew’s proposal to increase the sales tax by .3 percent temporarily. The money would go toward health care.

They just went over a few amendments and now they’re breaking for caucus. The hearing is live on TVW and tvw.org and I’ll be here the whole time.

Tags: healthcare, tax