GUEST COLUMN BP
PHOTO: iStockphoto. com/claffra
A struggling economy is no time to raise taxes Kris Johnson Hundreds of our fellow citizens stepped up to run for elected office during the recent candidate filing week. From local to federal positions, this is an example of our representative democracy at its finest. It’s also a reminder that there are real problems facing us right now, and many of the people solving them will be relatively new to elected office. The state Legislature already has a lot of new faces, and this November’s election will bring even more newcomers to Olympia. Newcomers and veterans alike will be looking at an unprecedented drop in state revenue. After years of record growth, policymakers will be looking at a $7.1 billion budget shortfall, ac-
cording to unofficial figures released last month. In fact, lawmakers might be called back to the Capitol even before the 2021 session begins in January, possibly as early as this summer. There is talk of a special session to address the budget hole after the next official budget and revenue forecast. Whenever they come back, legislators will face hard choices. Cutting programs is hard, so there are already calls for tax increases to help sustain state spending. That would be a mistake. There’s a great degree of fragility in our economy and in communities across the state. With approximately 1.2 million unemployment claims in Washington as of mid-May—and thousands of businesses forced to close their doors, some never to reopen—putting additional burdens on
our state’s employers, employees and communities would not be helpful. Businesses pay more than half of all state and local taxes in Washington, so if they aren’t able to succeed, the state’s tax revenue will continue to fall. And those same private-sector employers pay the wages that sustain the other two major pillars of state tax revenue: sales and property taxes. As dire as the state’s budget situation might be, our state’s small businesses and other private-sector employers are in far too fragile a position to handle a bigger tax burden. Let’s be clear: We need to double down on our commitment to grow jobs and help restart the economy. Now is the time to give employers and employees every possible tool to recover, not to add new burdens. Help employees and workers receive
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JUL/AUG 2020 | BUSINESSPULSE.COM
