Our governor is running for president. Washington taxpayers, be very afraid!
And not just because Gov. Jay Inslee’s security detail will cost an extra $4 million. Paying to keep our governor safe during campaign tours will cost pennies compared to some big-ticket items in his 2019 budget. While he runs to prove he is as progressive as the rest of the Democratic field, and with his party holding the majority in both state legislative chambers, we taxpayers must guard our pocketbooks.
To be clear, we respect our governor’s willingness to run, but we wonder if the citizens of his state can afford it. His proposed budget (“Putting People First”) includes a 21 percent increase over the next two years and new taxes totaling $3.78 billion, though the state’s revenues are projected to increase.
Governors have credibility when they run for president. Approaches tried in states are widely considered valuable experiments (“petri dishes”) that may solve national problems. Inslee is one of three Democratic governors running, but ex-governors John Hickenlooper (Colorado) and Terry McAuliffe (Virginia) are no longer in office. Only Inslee can champion tax-and-spend programs, assuring that Democratic voters around the nation view his state as a source of cutting-edge progressivism.
The petri-dish concept may partly explain the torrent of new taxes proposed this year by the governor and his Democratic allies. Sen. Lynda Wilson, R-Vancouver, has been keeping track. In a March 8 letter to constituents, she listed proposals on the table: “an income (‘capital gains’) tax, higher B&O tax, higher excise taxes on real estate transactions, an electricity mandate (functionally a tax), a 13-cent hike on a gallon of fuel (fuel standards bill), a new energy tax (raising the cost of heating and cooling homes), higher tax on insurance premiums, a new tax on property (“impact fee”), new taxes on auto parts, rental cars, etc., an additional 6-cent gas tax increase, higher fees on vehicle registration, bigger penalty for HOV lane violations, a woodstove fee increase, and a plastic-bag ban that would increase grocery costs.”
