“If you try to sit, I’ll tax your seat. If you get too cold, I’ll tax the heat. If you take a walk, I’ll tax your feet. ‘Cause I’m the taxman.”
It’s been 60 years since George Harrison wrote those lyrics for Taxman, the opening track on the Beatles’ seventh album, Revolver. Sixty years later and the lyrics to this song are more relevant than ever.
This state begged us to stop smoking because of the health problems it causes. When citizens switched to nicotine pouches to help quit smoking, you put a 95% tax on them so you could fund your spending. You begged us to drive electric vehicles, so I leased one. Well, now I’m not paying your gas tax so you decide to tax me $225 when I renew my registration. Again, so I can help fund your spending.
Washington, you’re sending mixed signals, pal. Is it about my health and the environment? A budget doesn’t work when you commit to a bunch of expenditures and then shake down your citizens to pay for it. The Revolutionary War started because of these very same actions.
I was told early in my career that it isn’t what you make that’s important. It is what you spend. Washington state, you have a spending problem, and I don’t think many on either side of the aisle would argue that right now.
I love Washington, so I am willing to help Washington curb its spending problem with a real-life example of an exercise I have been working on this year.
Like everyone else, inflation has impacted my life. There is nothing I can do about inflation, but I can do something about my spending. So, I grabbed my credit card statement and actually read it, line by line. What I found was I was double subscribed to multiple streaming services, podcasts, phone insurance for a phone I no longer have and memberships I don’t even use.
Quick couple of phone calls, and boom, fixed a part of my spending problem.
I’m always going to have necessary expenses just like you’re always going to have to build us roads and keep us safe. If I can cut out spending $100 a month on energy drinks, certainly you can identify wasteful spending and some expenses that don’t serve the majority of your citizens.
Washington state, I am asking you to show your residents what is on your statement. What are you spending our money on? I am sure this is public information, but it’s not easy or convenient for the average Washingtonian to look up.
I have a challenge for you, Washington.
Mail us voters what our tax dollars are being spent on in a clear and easy to read format. Oh, and just like my exercise where I made personal financial decisions, let us vote on what you’re spending our money on.
Be transparent, don’t hide behind long confusing legal documents. Washington, you’re in trouble, let your citizens dig you out.
Michael P. Bannan
Chehalis
