The House Health and Human Services Committee, led by chairman Rep. Eric Pettigrew, D-Seattle, just voted 8-7 to recommend the full state House of Representatives put a tax increase on the November ballot.
House Bill 2377 was amended by the committee, but the thrust of the bill is to put a referendum on the fall ballot, asking voters to raise the state sales tax from 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent for three years — Jan. 1, 2010 through Dec. 31, 2012. That would raise almost $1.1 billion. The money would be used to offset cuts to the state Basic Health Plan and other health programs.
HB 2377 now goes to the Rules Committee to await a vote by the full House.
Meanwhile, I just heard an advertisement on the radio on the drive down to Olympia (from Tacoma). It was encouraging listeners to contact their legislators to tell them not to raise taxes.
The group is called Advance Washington. According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, they just filed papers. Dick Davis, the columnist you sometimes see on our op-ed page, is the main contact.
The directors listed are Steven Mullin, president of the Washington Roundtable,and Don Brunell, president of the Association of Washington Business.
Apparently, I haven’t spent enough time in my car, because Brunell just told me the radio ads have been airing for the past week. It was a $50,000 buy, he said.
The anti-tax ad campaign is designed to give legislators another point of view, Brunell said. Raising taxes in this tough economic climate would work a hardship on families and businesses, especially new ones, he said.
The coalition of hospitals, nursing homes, nurses and homecare workers that is supporting the tax hike vote faltered over the weekend, but is taking another look at whether to finance the tax referendum campaign.
The Washington Policy Center took a look at the fiscal note of HB 2377.
Brunell noted polling last week showed marginal support for a tax hike, so it may not take too much to discourage lawmakers from putting it on the ballot. He said no decision has yet been made on whether to mount an opposition campaign to a ballot measure. That would be “premature,” he said.
Just before the committee vote, Rep. Eileen Cody, D-Seattle, a nurse, said she thinks voters should be given a choice as to whether they want to raise taxes.
Rep. Gary Alexander, R-0lympia, said he doesn’t believe the budget cuts will cause the damage that tax supporters claim.
“I don’t believe people will die if this bill is not passed,” he said. “I (do) believe people will lose their jobs.”
Rep. Maureen Walsh, R-Walla Walla, asked a question, “What do we do when voters say no.?”
Republicans, joined by professional initiative promoter Tim Eyman, are holding a news conference right now, telling reporters why the tax hike is not needed. Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, said he invited Eyman because it is Eyman’s Initiative 960 that is forcing majority Democrats to put the tax hike on the ballot if they can’t come up with a two-thirds majority in the Legislature to approve a tax hike.
House Speaker Frank Chopp told us over the weekend he would has more to say about the proposed tax referendum this afternoon.
