Olympia, WA – Dec. 19, 2020 – Governor Inslee just released his proposed budget for the next two years. Below are some facts about the Governor’s initial budget and quotes from the Republican House and Senate Budget leads.
The Inslee Budget:
- would spend $57.6 billion over the next two years
- includes $1.3 billion in new taxes
- grows state spending by $5 billion over the current budget
- proposes a new income tax on capital gains of 9% on annual investment earnings of $50,000 for a married couple
- capital gains tax would take effect in the second year of the 2021-23 biennium and is expected to raise $3.5 billion over the next four years
- this tax has been proposed several times before but has never been passed into law
- drains the state’s Rainy Day Fund (again)
- Moves $1.7 billion out of the Rainy Day Fund, officially called the Budget Stabilization Account
- proposes a monthly tax of about $3 on health insurance policies
- allows state employment contracts to be re-opened for negotiations in the second year (likely means raises)
- spends $10 million to maintain the state’s COVID-19 relief fund for undocumented immigrants
- calls for a 10% reduction in the amount of carbon in fuels by 2028, and a 20% reduction by 2035
House budget lead Rep. Drew Stokesbary: “Unfortunately for Washington taxpayers, there are virtually no cost-saving measures in the governor’s proposal. Despite constantly increasing tax collections, and even accounting for the current economic slowdown, the governor is still proposing to impose new taxes and drain the state’s ‘rainy day fund,’ all to fuel yet another $4 billion in new spending. Those who hoped for a fiscally-responsible budget will be sorely disappointed.”
Senate budget lead Sen. Lynda Wilson: “this hasn’t been a good week for the families of Washington. I had hoped that for once, we’d see a new biennial budget from Governor Inslee that doesn’t include tax increases. If the people of our state ever deserved that kind of consideration from their elected leaders, it’s now. Instead, it’s hard to tell from his budget proposal that our state is still dealing with a pandemic, because he’s again looking for billions in new spending and making another run at imposing unpopular taxes that were failures even before COVID-19 came along.”
(from WSRP)
