Sen. Mike Padden, R-Spokane Valley and a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, had this response to the “budget priorities” Gov. Jay Inslee announced today.
“Anyone who voted for Governor Inslee based on the claims he made as a candidate has grounds to be feeling like a victim of the old bait-and-switch. To talk jobs, jobs, jobs during the campaign and then roll out a framework today that could kill jobs a dozen different ways – is that the leadership people thought they were getting? Maybe that trick works in the ‘other Washington’ but it should be a trust-buster with the people of our state.

“When the Legislature enacted the largest tax increase in state history three years ago it included some tax hikes that were billed as ‘temporary’ – promising that the rates would go back down in 2013 because the economy would likely be doing better then. It’s time to make good on that. Sure, the economy isn’t where anyone wants it to be, but it’s doing well enough that the state still is expecting to realize an additional 2 billion dollars’ worth of revenue. Governor Inslee said ‘no new taxes’ as a candidate and should be more than willing to let those tax increases from 2010 expire on schedule.”

The dozen ways Inslee’s budget package could kill jobs are:

1. $40.8 million – tax increase on recycled-fuel environmental programs at Washington’s oil refineries
2. $94 million – limiting trade-in exemption on automobile purchases to the first $10,000 of vehicle value
3. $51 million – repealing sales-tax exemption on bottled water
4. $600 million – making permanent the temporary taxes adopted in 2010 that are set to expire this year on state service-industry businesses (e.g. engineers, doctors, architects) and increasing the business and occupation (B&O) tax on most state businesses
5. $29 million – increasing taxes on prescription drugs
6. $78 million – extend sales tax to computer software
7. $27 million – repeal B&O tax exemption for long-term rental of commercial real estate
8. $83 million – repeal sales-tax exemption for local residential-telephone service
9. $24 million – narrow tax exemption for import commerce
10. $127 million – making temporary taxes on beer (also from 2010) permanent, and extending the tax to the state’s small microbreweries, which were originally exempt
11. $63 million – repealing sales-tax exemption for non-residents of Washington
12. $5 million – repeal sales-tax exemption for farm-auction purchases