The sales tax tipping point
On the final day of the regular 60 day legislative session, there is a common refrain in Olympia that progressive legislators prefer a revenue package that closes loopholes and more conservative Democrats are advocating a general sales tax increase. Keep in mind that we are raising approximately $750 million of the $2.8 billion projected deficit.
That analysis is wrong, in my view, and simplistic in its depth of analysis. I am opposed to an increase in the sales tax not because it is regressive as much as because we have reached a tipping point in King County. We simply cannot and should not go beyond 10% sales tax. It is bad policy, bad politics and unfair to small business and low and moderate income citizens. Small business is not a department down the hall of our economy, it is the engine of our way out of this Great Recession.
There are those who criticize King County for raising the sales tax for local uses. And yet we are a sales and B&O tax state. The reality is that local services need to be funded and sales tax is one of our only strategies. King County uses the sales tax and we have a right to empower the county council to use the resources in a manner that works for them.
We have reached the tipping point for the sales tax in King County that we should not go above. That’s not a liberal or conservative position, it’s common sense.
Your partner in service,
Reuven.
Please point me in the direction of the legislation passed on the principal bill that you sponsored…
Thanks…
We agree with you on the “tipping point” theory. Many Seattle companies are finding refuge from the sales tax in e-commerce (sales tax is not collected on non-resident sales). Colorado initiated an internet tax recently. While things look shaky (Amazon now refuses to sell in Colorado), perhaps this will provide a fresh stream of revenue.