If it seems like the cost to live here in Washington state is high, it’s because it is.
But thankfully, our super state legislative Democrats want to make it even more expensive.
As reported in last Saturday's edition of The Chronicle, the majority Democrats are proposing an additional $17 billion or more in new spending (taxes), which should help take us as a state to the No. 1 spot in the list of most expensive places to live in the U.S.
They must be so proud.
Of course, they present these staggering increased taxes as good for us and just an effort to “update an outdated and regressive tax code,” which is just code for “we can’t stop overspending and we want more of your money.”
You have to give them credit. They are persistent when it comes to getting more while promising it won’t be bad. Just the evil big corporations will pay, they say. But, of course, it's a lie, but our short memories keep them coming back for more.
And we let them by keeping them in office.
So here they are again, looking down the barrel of newfangled taxes they say won’t affect the little guy. But they will. And we’ll just grin and take it. In fact, Democrats propose raising the property tax lid from 1% annually to some mysterious variable based on the rate of population and inflation that could be up to 3% annually.
That’s exciting, especially when stupid policies and too much government spending are one of the main drivers of inflation.
Property taxes will affect us all. Renters, too.
We don’t have to look too far to see what crushing taxes do to people in a state like California. I am pretty sure they tax everything that moves — and many things that don’t — to spend more than they get, and they are broke. It's not a revenue problem we have. It’s a spending problem. It’s not an outdated taxing system here. Its too much spending.
I suppose the voter-approved cap of 1% on property taxes has run its course and we deserve to be hammered every year by the hogs at the trough politicians who have no limits when it comes to spending other people's money.
I asked Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, if there were any details on the state's situation and finances he could share with a guy who struggles to balance a checkbook, and he did. Several things popped right out even to a simple guy like me.
This year’s revenue projections included 7.6% more than the current budget year. So 7.6% wasn’t enough of an increase to satisfy these people. It should on its face be enough. But nope. They want more.
There are too many to list, but here’s a few more from “25 Essential Budget Facts Every Citizen Should Know in 2025.”
State tort liability — misconduct by the state — is one of the fastest growing areas of the budget. That doesn’t seem to be a good thing, unless you’re a lawyer.
The purported $10 to $17 billion projected state budget deficit includes salary increases for public employees whose median salary ($83,000) is higher than the median wage in 38 of 39 counties. I’m just spitballing here, but usually when business is bad, they don’t give raises.
Sometimes, sadly, they have to reduce the number of employees.
Clearly, the state is going in another direction since they don’t produce any revenue. They just keep demanding we send it.
The state budget has grown at twice the rate of worker rates of growth over the past 10 years. That seems like it could be problematic. The term “unsustainable” comes to mind.
This one was also not surprising: We pay about $1,000 more in taxes than the median state level. Yet, our roads stink and potholes abound. States with less don’t have that problem. That’s weird, because our state just demands more.
The state pays consultants, and those costs have grown 184% in the past five years, including 320% for marketing, 251% for communications, 227% for social research services and 265% on training services.
These are serious dollars, and it makes me wonder what we pay state employees to do? And what kind of training wasthat spent on? I can guess what some of it was.
I’ll bet Dave Ramsey, the financial adviser, could give Olympia some tough love on their spending habits. I don’t listen too often, but he makes it so simple a caveman can understand it. Even that might be too challenging for some of these Democratic budget “experts,” but he’s free if you call in on the phone.
To his credit, Gov. Bob Ferguson has proposed furlough days for state employees as a cost-cutting measure, which of course has been met with resistance by state unions and employees. But as costs go up on businesses, that's what’s going to happen to employers stuck paying for the Democrats’ spending. They need to share in the pain, too.
Near as I can tell, that was the only major reduction suggested. Olympia needs to have its credit card cut up, go on a spending diet and get back to some sort of reality that makes sense to regular people outside Olympia. And one we can afford.
Unfortunately, pigs will fly before that happens. And the Democrats would probably try to tax them, too.
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John McCroskey was Lewis County sheriff from 1995 to 2005. He lives outside Chehalis and can be contacted at musingsonthemiddlefork@gmail.com.
