Inslee Proposes Billions in New Taxes on Way Out of Office

(The Center Square) – When Gov. Jay Inslee took office in 2013 after stating in the 2012 election race that new taxes weren’t “the right direction," the state Legislature approved a $38.4 billion budget for the biennium. With less than a month before stepping down from office, Inslee is proposing a $78.8 billion operating budget that comes with $4 billion in new taxes to fund it, including a wealth tax. The approach is in contrast with how the Legislature responded to a massive budget deficit during the Great Recession, when lawmakers reduced spending by $11 billion in response to a significant loss of revenue. At Tuesday morning's budget news conference, Inslee said that “they did things that leaders sometimes would do in difficult times, particularly during the recession,” and though his budget involves $2 billion in delayed spending, he said the Great Recession-era cuts to services such as mental health has created “a problem we've been trying to dig ourselves out of for 12 years now.” Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.