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Citizens should feel
empowered to share ideas, critiques on state budget
By Reps. Joel Kretz and Shelly Short
Our economy is struggling – our local papers are streamlining to save
money, our small employers are cutting back expenses and our families
are slimming down household budgets to focus on top priorities. These
are the steps folks living in the real world take to stay afloat when
times get tough. Our state budget should reflect the same principles and
show the same discipline.
Both the House and the Senate showed us their state budget plans to pay
for the daily operations of state government this week. We have concerns
about tax increases in the budgets and we also have concerns about where
the most drastic cuts were made. But, this is your budget, too, and we
want to hear what you think.
As an example: Among our disappointments are the cuts in education and
health care services. However, budget writers found $538,000 in the
operating and another $1.6 million in other accounts to fund climate
change initiatives such as organizing the new cap and tax structure on
employers that emit greenhouse gasses. We have to ask ourselves; in this
budget year, is this the best use of even this relatively small amount
of your tax dollars?
Both of us, like you, work for a living and understand that every tax
dollar collected came from a hard-working citizen. That’s why we support
prioritizing the budget to ensure our kids are educated, our most
vulnerable receive the services they need and families have the
unemployment benefits to help them in this rough patch.
That’s why we cannot support any expansion in state government. Instead,
we believe Olympia’s leadership needs to give hard-working citizens a
break. We believe some of the cuts they are making in their budgets are
ways to assure you will raise your taxes when asked this year. Asking
for tax increases to “buy back” essential government programs is unfair.
Government should fund first things first then if anything is left, go
to the next item on the list.
Another fact to consider is that Washington’s tax revenue is a little
higher this two-year budget cycle than it was in 2007. The $9 billion
shortfall being reported is actually the difference between the $30
billion they have to spend, and the $39 billion they would like to spend
on new and expanded government programs.
Our view is the way out of this economic slump is less government
spending on non-essential programs. Consumer spending drives
Washington’s economy because we are dependent on sales tax revenue.
Taking more of your discretionary money to grow government is the
opposite of what should be done.
By looking at what government should do, and do well, we can make sure
our taxes are spent in ways that make a difference in people’s lives.
We hope this information is helpful as you look for ways to participate
in your government. If you would like to comment on the budget, please
call us on the toll-free legislative hotline at 1-800-562-6000 or e-mail
us at kretz.joel@leg.wa.gov
or short.shelly@leg.wa.gov.
If you would like to look at the budget summaries online, the Senate
version can be found at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/Senate/Committees/WM/ and the House version is
located at
http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/Committees/ways.
We look forward
to hearing from you and listening to your thoughts. It’s your
government.
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For more information, contact:
Bobbi Cussins, Public Information Officer: (360) 786-7252
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