The Governor has proposed shuffling around state revenues while floating a novel wealth tax to make up a projected $10-12 billion budget shortfall through 2029.
Gov. Jay Inslee's proposed budget for consideration by the state legislature during the upcoming session in Olympia, has received the response of Republicans, including freshman, 12th District State House member Brian Burnett (R-Wenatchee).
"I don't think any of my colleagues, or myself, want to see increased taxes," said Burnett when discussing the emphasis of the Washington State House Republican Caucus. "We're also looking at ways to cut and prioritize spending. We want to look at the long term; affordability, accountability, in order to maximize this going into the future."
The February 2022 state revenue forecast showed state government had a projected $15 billion revenue surplus.
State Sen. Mark Schoesler wrote at the time, "The state operating budget is now expected to collect over $10 billion in additional revenue during the four-year outlook than expected when the Legislature finished its 2021 session."
"If they had a surplus, $15 billion, and now just a few years later we're looking at this massive shortfall of $10-12 billion, something didn't work here, right?." stated Burnett. "It's not a revenue issue, it's a spending issue and we've got to go back to reprioritization, which means there's got to be some programs that need to be cut and or eliminated."
In addition to the Governor's budget proposals, he had previously this year approved a $2 billion budget increase for education, mental health, and housing services. The Governor also enacted a spending freeze on non-essential hiring, service contracts, purchasing, and travel, exempting spending on critical services and hiring for critical vacancies.
Joining Burnett, other Republican state legislators have expressed concerns about potential tax increases to meet the spending goals of the Democrat controlled legislature.
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