Seattle P-I Plays the "Income Tax" Card for Gregoire
Posted by: Angie Vogt | 08/07/2008 3:20 AM
An August 5th Seattle P-I editorial laments the fiscal situation we face in Washington state, noting that the slowing national economy and high fuel prices are to blame (because we all know it's George Bush's fault). The editorial is quick to praise Gregoire's "smart" decision to implement a hiring freeze in all state agencies under her authority (I guess 6000 new employees and a completely unwarranted new "early learning" cabinet department in the past three years will just have to do).
It only takes a couple hundred words for the editors to get to the real point of their article, which is to do Gregoire's bidding by floating the suggestion of (music please) a state income tax. With feigned reluctance, the editorial suggests perhaps a limited income tax "only on the wealthy" just to "help balance the basic unfairness of the sales tax."
I like how they glossed right over the idea of how to correct an injustice, such as an unfair tax. That's because they're not interested in correcting an unfairness. They just needed a launch pad for floating the wildly unpopular idea of the state income tax. They're carrying Gregoire's water, in other words. The state income tax is a long coveted golden egg on the democrats platform in this state.
They just haven't figured out how to drug our water to gain our consent yet. The P-I, ever so gently, suggested that a good start would be to impose the new tax burden only on families they've deemed wealthy, which they so courteously defined as incomes over $200,000.
So, Gregoire gets a pass for her reckless spending of the people's money and we the taxpayers are expected to just be good sports and pony up more dough.
I've got a better idea. How about we get the revenues from the casinos that she exempted? That should pay some bills. How about we sell off the WASL exam and start using the $35, right-off-the-shelf Iowa Test of Basic Skills or Stanford Achievement Test? How about we dry up the money that she's spent on commissions and blue ribbon panels to "study" the state ferry system or to "discuss" new options for the viaduct? Even better how about we fire her and hire a new Governor?
Those ideas alone would balance the budget.
It only takes a couple hundred words for the editors to get to the real point of their article, which is to do Gregoire's bidding by floating the suggestion of (music please) a state income tax. With feigned reluctance, the editorial suggests perhaps a limited income tax "only on the wealthy" just to "help balance the basic unfairness of the sales tax."
I like how they glossed right over the idea of how to correct an injustice, such as an unfair tax. That's because they're not interested in correcting an unfairness. They just needed a launch pad for floating the wildly unpopular idea of the state income tax. They're carrying Gregoire's water, in other words. The state income tax is a long coveted golden egg on the democrats platform in this state.
They just haven't figured out how to drug our water to gain our consent yet. The P-I, ever so gently, suggested that a good start would be to impose the new tax burden only on families they've deemed wealthy, which they so courteously defined as incomes over $200,000.
So, Gregoire gets a pass for her reckless spending of the people's money and we the taxpayers are expected to just be good sports and pony up more dough.
I've got a better idea. How about we get the revenues from the casinos that she exempted? That should pay some bills. How about we sell off the WASL exam and start using the $35, right-off-the-shelf Iowa Test of Basic Skills or Stanford Achievement Test? How about we dry up the money that she's spent on commissions and blue ribbon panels to "study" the state ferry system or to "discuss" new options for the viaduct? Even better how about we fire her and hire a new Governor?
Those ideas alone would balance the budget.
It may be ill advised, but it is apparently not "fraudulent" and certainly not election fraud. Forbes has...