State Rep. Eric Pettigrew, if he has any sense about him, regrets ever suggesting that “people will die” if the Legislature doesn’t send a sales tax increase to the ballot.
Hyperbole doesn’t become the Seattle Democrat, and it certainly isn’t helping sell lawmakers or voters on his proposal to offset cuts in health care.
A poll leaked over the weekend showed that public support for a three-tenths sales tax increase (Pettigrew’s baby) is falling far short of the 60 percent groups that would underwrite a pro campaign want to see.
Support is also faltering at the state Capitol. The House, the more enthusiastic of the two chambers, was barely able to get the sales tax referendum out of committee on Tuesday.
It squeaked through on an 8-7 vote in which two Democrats – Mark Miloscia of Federal Way and Dawn Morrell of Puyallup – joined the Republican opposition. Another Sound Sound Democrat – Larry Seaquist of Gig Harbor – said he is personally opposed to the tax but thinks voters should get the chance to decide.
Perhaps they should, but that all depends on what lawmakers send to the ballot. They can’t cut the living daylights out of programs that care for the state’s most vulnerable and then ask the electorate to ride to the rescue.
Why? For starters, it’s a bad gamble. Supporters of the sales tax hike might think last week – when taxpayers were putting the final touches on their 1040s – was a bad time to poll voters about making Washington’s sales tax the highest in the nation.
But with Washington’s jobless rate getting worse, more inopportune moments are surely ahead. If voters aren’t in a giving mood now, the Legislature can’t bank on circumstances significantly improving by November.
Even if voters decide they can afford to pay another three cents on a $10 purchase, they are likely to chafe at being asked to restore cuts the Legislature made in order to shelter state workers from the brunt of the recession or to build a beefy savings account that rivals what lawmakers themselves put aside in good times. (Budget writers plan to salt away $850 million, which roughly equals what the sales tax increase would bring in.)
We’re all for prudent fiscal policy, but a monsoon isn’t the right time to be saving for a rainy day. And we’re dismayed that lawmakers seem bent on giving state workers their automatic “step” increases and keeping their share of health insurance premiums well below what private-sector workers pay. Meanwhile, they’re talking about kicking thousands of low-income Washingtonians off the Basic Health Plan.
How about putting the sacred cows on the ballot, and protecting the poor in the actual budget?
If the Legislature decides to punt and tell voters that vital social services are theirs to save, it will be a dereliction of duty. And, yes, people might die. But the fault won’t be lawmakers’ for not sending a tax measure to the ballot. It will be theirs for neglecting their job.
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