TVW Air ScheduleFind out what’s candy and what’s not under the new state law — and how that will affect what you pay:
And on Inside Olympia, Austin Jenkins interviewed business groups about their legislative priorities — and the November election:
Tags: Business, candy, elections, Inside Olympia, tax, The Impact, TVW
Gov. Chris Gregoire just signed the tobacco tax bill into law. It will raise the price of a pack of cigarettes by $1 per pack.
I’ll be live-blogging from the bill signing, which includes the taxes on soda, candy and bottled water. Refresh your browser for more.
“When I released my first Book 1 budget in December,” she said, “I was forced to recommend the elimination of such vital programs as K-12 levy equalization” for property poor districts, Basic Health, maternity support services, hospice care and more. “These choices would have destroyed the safety net for our seniors and our most vulnerable citizens.” She said given the “tremendous personal and social costs,” it made sense to pass a “modest” revenue package.
She said this package raises revenue through commonsense approaches. “The intent of the three-year temporary taxes on soda and beer, for example,” will go to maternity support for at-risk moms, early childhood education, Meals on Wheels, adult hospice care, Apple Health insurance and more.
Gregoire said she thanks the Legislature, Department of Revenue and others who worked on the budget.
After her brief statement she signed the bill, the bill signing photographer is arranging the dozens of supporters behind her so they fit in the photo.
Now for the lottery bill, which directs lottery money to be deposited into the “Opportunity Pathways” account, which will help fund higher education scholarships, research and more.
Now, for Q&A:
“There were folks who requested a section,” be vetoed, she said. She said specifically that Speaker Frank Chopp “asked for a veto of the pop tax,” she said, but she didn’t veto it because she didn’t hear similar requests from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown.
She said she “hopes the citizens of the state of Washington are willing to step up” to 2 cents per can of pop, if it’s put to a vote. “The benefits of doing so when it comes to children’s health … I think it’s time for all of us to contribute a small amount.”
She said if smaller bottlers and distributors have been targeted (they were meant to be exempt), the Legislature would fix that next session. She said that was never the intent.
“As I look back in history in our state, the last time we had a recession of any magnitude was in the early ’80s,” she said. Republicans at that time raised the equivalent of $1.8 billion. “So this is not about partisan politics,” she said, it’s about making the way through the worst time since the Great Depression.
She was asked whether she would sign the initiative petition to create a high-earners income tax?
“I will sign the petition because I really do think it’s time for us to have a good discussion in the state of Washington about how are we going to fund education?” She said she hopes the income tax debate will allow the state to have that discussion. “I think it’s healthy for the state of Washington to have this debate.” (more…)
Tags: bill signing, Gregoire, tax
Here’s a list of the bills Gov. Chris Gregoire will sign into law tomorrow at 1:30 in her conference room — including the bills to raise $800 million in taxes:
I’ll be there blogging and TVW will be covering it, but it won’t be aired live. I’ll post it online as soon as it’s available.
(Via WaVotes): Gov. Chris Gregoire was scheduled to sign Senate Bill 6143 — the tax package — today, but it’s been moved to Friday.
If you’re interested in legislative action today, watch the Joint Audit and Legislative Review Committee, the first segment of which is online now. Another session will begin at 1 p.m.
Tags: tax
On a motion to adopt the conference committee tax package, Sen. Joe Zarelli said the bill will increase the B&O tax and the soda tax. He said a distributor in his area will have to reduce workforce by 10 percent, increase costs and make other adjustments to cover the tax increase. He also said the beer tax will be tripled. In all, he said the taxes discourage employment. “Jobs will be lost because of this.” He said the Legislature is raising taxes because they can’t figure out how to cut spending — but businesses have had to do just that.
No one else spoke on the conference committee motion.
Watch live on TVW.
Now for final passage debate. (more…)
Tags: tax
Jerry Cornfield at the Everett Herald has the details on what he calls the “go home” tax proposal: It does not include a sales tax but does have a two cent tax on soda, and a beer tax.
And here’s Andrew Garber’s post.
Stay tuned. We’re camping out in the capitol.
Update: Here’s the House Democratic Caucus blog’s take on the package.
Update 2: Rep. Jeff Morris said via Twitter that leadership has agreed on the proposal, and they’re counting votes now. “If we have them we can go home.” In a subsequent message, he said “If we have the votes the budget writers can put the final budget together. Taxes are a serious decision not done easily or taken.”
Update 3: Austin Jenkins is reporting the above info was “a mistake” and the tax package isn’t finished yet. Read his blog here.
Tags: tax
Andrew Garber at The Seattle Times and Rachel La Corte at the Associated Press are reporting that the Senate is dropping the sales tax from its proposal in an effort to get an agreement.
The House and Senate must agree on a tax package and budget by Tuesday — the final day of the 30-day special session.
I’ll update as soon as we know anything more.
Update 1: The House Democratic Caucus blog suggests that if everyone can agree on this package, special session could be wrapped up by this weekend.
Update 2: Here’s Rachel La Corte’s updated story. It indicates there could be agreement tonight.
Tags: tax
The Senate announced a new revenue package today — instead of a two-tenths of a percent increase in the sales tax, they’re going for one tenth. And there are many more changes:
“It also includes a 50 cents per gallon beer tax with micro-brews exempted, a new tax on candy and gum with in-state producers getting a jobs tax credit. The new package also assumes the House position on proposed tobacco taxes to include all tobacco products, not just cigarettes.”
More details — and the Governor’s remarks — coming soon, so check back.
Tags: tax
The Senate is starting debate on SB 6143 — their tax package. The package has some amendments, including one to drop the temporary sales tax increase from .3 to .2 percent.
Gov. Chris Gregoire was asked during a bill signing this afternoon if she would reject a sales tax, and she said there are too many moving pieces right now to make that call.
Update: The Senate just passed the amendment to drop the sales tax from .3 percent to .2 percent. Sen. Rosa Franklin said she’s opposed increasing the sales tax, but she can support a smaller increase — as long as it’s offset by the Working Families Tax Credit.
“This bill that we’re about to pass, prior to it we considered some amendments,” Sen. Joe Zarelli said. And in each case, senators argued that certain sectors should be exempt from the tax package because they’ll be hurt. He said it was interesting that they’d make the case for some sectors, but not others. “This bill is going to cost (Alaska Airlines) approximately $2.4 million,” he said. “This is a very short-sighted approach to solving a very mid- to long-term problem.”
Sen. Jim Hargrove: “I’m not really excited about raising taxes … I passed out this little sheet here because I did a little calculation,” he said. “If you look at a 33 percent shortfall in our budget on this little sheet here … that’s the biggest shortfall we’ve had — ever,” he said. Most of the reductions have come through cuts, federal assistance and fund shifts, he said.
Sen. Mike Hewitt: “This budget is going to be $2.2 billion more than the budget we passed just two years ago,” he said. He said the Republican caucus has a sign that says “We don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” He said the sign has been up for five years.
Sen. Cheryl Pflug read from some letters she’d received from constituents. “Now is not the time to increase taxes on business and the public,” one person wrote.
Sen. Lisa Brown: “State government in Washington state balances our budget every year,” she said — including this year, the toughest time since the Great Depression. “I wish this package was larger and contained more structural reform,” she said, but “I’m proud that we’ve made modest reforms” in the package. She said some of those reforms will mean that small businesses will be better off and thousands of families will qualify for a state rebate for low-income families. She said families in the state will pay an average of $20 more to help balance the state’s budget.
Sen. Mark Schoessler: “The math here is kind of interesting,” he said. “Twelve billion dollars in cuts? No, it’s actually twelve billion dollars from the wish list… that’s Olympia math,” he said. “The majority has made the package a little bit better today,” he said, but they’ve picked winners and losers, which isn’t fair.
Update: The Senate passed the bill. It now heads to the House.
Tags: tax
The House passed their tax package last night, 52 to 45. Read the bill here. And read some of the debate below.
Rep. Ross Hunter: “As you’re aware, we face a difficult supplemental budget. Our job is to produce a balanced budget. In fact, it’s a legal requirement,” he said. “It’s also important that we have a balanced budget that meets a moral definition of balanced,” he said. He said the package closes exemptions that have been in place for decades and no longer make economic sense. “The revenue from this part of the package funds core services.
Rep. Ed Orcutt: “I don’t think we have exhausted all opportunities and I don’t think that the gentleman from the 48th has listed all the options,” he said. He said the Legislature hasn’t taken reform seriously enough. “It’s unfortunate that we haven’t taken that road, because that’s a win-win road. Here, we’re pitting the taxpayer against the tax taker.”
Rep. Larry Haler said he is opposed to the candy tax because it will affect Washington-based businesses like Almond Roca and Liberty Orchards.
Rep. Jay Rodne: “There has been no attempt, Mr. Speaker, to really look at structural reform of our budget,” he said. He said failure to look at reform has led to legislators saying they must choose between “kids and healthcare and forgo our commitments to our communities and our future or raise taxes.” “We’re going to come back here next year and the situation will be of a much greater magnitude.”
Rep. Kevin Parker: “My fear is, this is not a credible plan to balance the budget,” he said. “This budget is a stew that is undigestible to the stomach of Washington.” He said Washington has high unemployment and low consumer confidence — and that means it’s not the time for a big tax increase.
Rep. Larry Springer: “I’ve been in business for 30 years … and in order to do that, I’ve had to have one primary objective,” he said: Cash flow. “And in fact, I have been able to maintain that cash flow by competing,” he said. “What I hope to see out of this package is the realization from my government that while I’m not afraid of competition … I would like that fight to be fair,” he said. Thsi tax proposal does that, he said, because it eliminates tax exemptions for out-of-state business.
Rep. Norm Johnson said he doesn’t think elective cosmetic surgeries should not be taxes. “Maybe this is something that maybe should come out of this bill because I think we need to be thinking about the human aspects of people who face surgery,” he said. He said many people who choose to have plastic surgery have a reason for doing so.
Rep. Eileen Cody: “I just have to correct some misinformation here,” she said. “We are talking about cosmetic surgery …not reconstructive surgery.”
Tags: tax
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