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1. Yesterday, we reported that Democratic Senate Majority Leader Sen. Lisa Brown (D-3, Spokane) came out matter-of-factly—and dramatically—for an income tax on rich people.

Today, we report that the Republicans (or the only Republican with a pulse this session, anyway), Sen. Janea Holmquist (R-13, Moses Lake), blasted the idea with a high-octane letter—under the bold red-letter headline "TAX ALERT! Senate Democrats Propose Creating a State Income Tax!"—warning that this tax would be the first step toward an income tax for all. 

Sen. Holmquist wrote: 

The majority party introduced a bill on April 1^st that I wish was just an April Fool’s Day joke. Unfortunately for taxpayers of this state, the Senate Democrats seem serious about a proposal that would create a state income tax.

While they argue that their one percent income tax would only fall on people making more than $500,000 a year, this bill is most likely a first step – a trial balloon – towards a universal state income tax that we will all be forced to pay. As Paul Guppy from the Washington Policy Center points out:

“This is exactly what happened in 1913 when the federal government created the income tax. The first income tax started at 1% and it applied only to the wealthiest people. Back then supporters of the tax said that most people would never have to pay it. As we know, within a short time paying the federal income tax became an all too common experience for Americans.  Even if Sen. Kohl-Welles' ‘millionaire's tax’ at first applied only to Bill Gates, you can be sure that in no time we would all be paying it.”

Democrats introduced a similar bill in 2007-08, which was expected to generate less than $100 million per biennium if the tax only impacted household incomes of $500,000 for singles and $1 million for couples. This wouldn’t provide enough money to solve our budget woes, but it would give the majority party a foot in the door to establish a state income tax for all of us.

Not only does this bill have several potential Constitutional flaws and threaten further harm to our economy, it also goes against the will of the people. Washington voters have repeatedly rejected state income tax proposals. The most recent income tax proposal was defeated by 77 percent of Washington voters! Given the current economic situation of many of the families in the 13^th district, I would not be surprised to see that number even higher today.

I will vehemently oppose any attempt by the state to take more money out of your wallet to bailout the majority party for its years of irresponsible, run-away spending.

The letter urges people to write Gov. Chris Gregoire—who, actually, already came out against the idea yesterday.

(Footnote: The Democrats have not been on a spending spree. As a percentage of personal income, government spending has remained flat—at about 6 percent—for over 10 years.)

 
2. The Senate is also getting slammed from the Left.

Low-income housing advocates are hoping the state Senate's dramatic cuts to General Assistance for the Unemployable, or GAU funding (an 80 percent cut) and Senate cuts to the Housing Trust Fund—$200 million down to $72 million—are  just political bargaining chips from the Senate side as they get ready to reconcile their budget with the House budget. (GAU and Housing Trust Fund dollars are top priorities for stalwart low-income advocate House Speaker Frank Chopp, and Chopp is likely to go along with any Senate priority to get the funding back.) 

As someone put it to me right before I headed to Sen. Majority Leader Lisa Brown's press conference yesterday afternoon: "Ask her if she's just bargaining with Frank or if she really just hates homeless people."

3. Mike McGinn's campaign for mayor got a little Obama stimulus this week when Education Secretary Arne Duncan urged mayors across the country to take over failing school districts. McGinn had hyped this idea as his top priority when he announced his run against Mayor Greg Nickels last week.

4. Yesterday, we reported that House transportation committee member, Rep. Geoff Simpson (D-Covington, Kiss Song), had collected over 20 signatures from his House colleagues for an amendment to the transportation budget that would kill a budget proviso written by transportation committee Chair Rep. Judy Clibborn (D-41, Mercer Island, Bellevue). Rep. Clibborn's proviso would add more prerequisites on Sound Transit before getting light rail across I-90.