A nationally published conservative columnist recently drew a contrast between the Democratic nominees for president and vice president, who are busy being joyous, and the 65% of Americans who believe our nation is headed in the wrong direction.
Can “joy” pay the electric bill, he asked rhetorically? The rent? Or other basic, fixed costs?
A survey of Washington residents taken about six weeks ago raises a similar comparison.
Nearly half of those responding believe our state is on the wrong track.
About three-fourths of those responding to another question believe Washington’s economic situation is either staying about the same or getting worse. From that group, a majority chose “getting worse.”
No one who thinks our state is on the wrong track or believes the economy is faltering is likely to view higher taxes as a good idea.
Even so, Democratic incumbents and candidates are always trying to take more money from the people one way or another. They’ll tell you it’s for the children, or for roads, or for your own good.
Two of their schemes were included on the list of survey questions.
One is a “retail delivery fee” that has not been proposed as legislation in our state — yet — but was floated in June.
The fee is “one of a number of things we’re looking at” to pay for transportation work, said the Democrat who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee.
Washington reportedly would be the third state with such a fee. Colorado charges 28 cents on every delivery, no matter the value, while Minnesota just began charging 50 cents on deliveries valued at $100 or more.
Consultants hired to study this idea in our state looked at retail delivery fees ranging from 25 to 75 cents, in various configurations.
A majority of those responding to the mid-July survey opposed the idea of a retail delivery fee, which critics call a “doorstep tax.”
That’s not surprising. People are tired of our roads being used as an excuse for another government money grab.
It was only two years ago that legislative Democrats, desperate to spend more money on projects in districts they represent without raising the gas tax, voted instead to increase a long list of transportation fees.
Their package of fee hikes made necessary items like driver’s licenses and license plates far more expensive.
Republicans don’t support a retail delivery fee. We know there’s a painless way for our state to “find” many more billions of dollars for transportation without reaching deeper into people’s pockets,
We would simply take the tax revenue already being collected from vehicle sales, which now goes into the operating budget, and deposit it into the transportation budget instead.
For years Republicans have proposed this completely logical approach for supporting transportation projects, which are costing more than ever because of inflation.
The recent survey of Washingtonians also asked about a tax proposal which is all too familiar to anyone who followed this year’s session: the effort by Democrats to triple the voter-approved 1% limit on the annual growth of property-tax rates.
That idea got clobbered, with 68% of survey respondents opposed.
When asked to reconsider the question, after arguments for and against the tax-rate tripling were explained, 62% of the respondents remained opposed.
It’s no surprise that more than 60% of the survey respondents don’t like the idea of a property-tax rate increase, no matter how the question is asked.
What’s notable is that 40% of the respondents identified as Democrats. That means the opposition to higher property taxes isn’t coming just from Republicans and independents.
Earlier this year, when Republicans called the public’s attention to the Democrats’ scheme to allow the tripling of the property-tax rate, two Democratic senators even tried to hide the fact that they had supported the proposed increase — to the point of having their names removed from the list of Senate Bill 5770’s sponsors.
One is Sen. T’wina Nobles, who likely is not eager to have her working-class and suburban Pierce County constituents know of her willingness to overturn the will of the voters by enabling larger tax increases. Sen. Emily Randall is the second, perhaps fearing it would become an issue in her campaign for the Congressional seat representing the Olympic Peninsula.
As the Democrats’ candidate for governor, Bob Ferguson is in the same hole as Kamala Harris when it comes to acting like he understands the financial and security concerns of families.
The slogan on his campaign website — about “fighting for the rights of everyone” — is just as meaningless as the vice president’s “joy” to families that are struggling to pay their basic bills.
Republican lawmakers, in contrast, have a history of working to let people keep more of their own money.
Dave Reichert, the Republican candidate for governor, also addresses property taxes and the cost of food and gas in the “cost of living” section of his campaign website. The same can’t be said for Ferguson.
The recent survey of Washingtonians didn’t ask about the property-tax increases that will result if Democrats again lift the limit on local school levies.
The last time Democrats increased the school levy “lid” they did so at the expense of a bipartisan property-tax decrease that would have benefited about 75% of property owners in our state had it been allowed to take full effect.
Republicans are strong supporters of K-12 education. In fact, when leading the Senate we made sure funding for K-12 climbed to more than 50% of the operating budget. That’s appropriate considering basic education is state government’s top constitutional priority.
Democrats have let that percentage slip to 43% by knowingly prioritizing other things ahead of students – but watch, when they want more taxes then they’ll turn right around and use K-12 as an excuse.
It concerns us that Democrats are more interested in lifting the levy lid to allow tax increases than they are about dealing with the learning loss caused by pandemic-related classroom closures, and the dismal scores on student assessment tests.
Also, look for Democrats to make another run at tripling the growth of the property-tax rate — even though the July survey respondents strongly opposed such a move.
Again, all these Democratic tax ideas go against the many people who believe our state is on the wrong track, and think Washington’s economic situation is getting worse.
Here’s a way to feel real joy: When you get your general-election ballot, open it and start by voting yes — as in “vote yes, pay less” — on each of the four cost-saving initiatives.
End the hidden gas tax by passing Initiative 2117, repeal the capital-gains tax by approving I-2109, say yes to I-2124 to do away with the mandatory payroll tax for long-term care and declare your support for energy choice by approving I-2066.
During the five years that Republicans led the state Senate, the people of our state were protected from general tax increases. Since one-party rule returned in 2018, your cost of living has gone up substantially.
After voting to keep more of your own money by supporting the initiatives, support Republican candidates – who know it takes more than joy to help pay the bills. That’s the better path for our state.
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Sen. John Braun of Centralia serves the 20th Legislative District, which spans parts of four counties from Yelm to Vancouver. He became Senate Republican leader in 2020.
