Some options for lawmakers on a tax vote

Fri, Mar 6 2009 — Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

By CURT WOODWARD
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

OLYMPIA, Wash. — As lawmakers chop their way out of an estimated $8 billion budget deficit, voices in the Democratic majority’s political base are crying out for higher taxes to save favorite state services.

So where’s the money? One place to look is the so-called “shopping list,” a state Revenue Department compilation of possible sources of additional money for the state.

For example: Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed whacking the Basic Health Plan by 42 percent through mid-2011, for a savings of about $252 million, according to a legislative analysis.

Raising the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.6 percent wouldn’t quite replace that entire cut, generating about $237 million in the 2009-2011 budget period.

Gregoire’s proposal to skip teacher raises under Initiative 732 saved about $390 million. Slapping a penny-per-ounce tax on bottled water at the wholesale level would get pretty close to replacing that cut, raising an estimated $366 million. … (READ MORE)