House, governor have answers

It’s hard to believe that Washington state schools are underfunded by billions of dollars and that the Supreme Court ruled that Washington state is violating its constitution by under-funding K-12 schools. This problem is the focus of the budget debate right now in our state Legislature.

The Republican-controlled Senate proposed that the problem be solved by a complicated “levy swap” plan that would eventually lead to deep cuts in health care, child care, public safety, homelessness prevention and environmental protection, in order to “prioritize” funding for schools.

The Democratic-controlled House, and the governor, proposed solving the problem by cleaning up the tax code, and generating new revenue. This proposal would close some of the 694 tax loopholes that benefit Washington’s wealthiest residents, including the tax break on capital gains. Washington state has the most regressive tax code in the nation.

The lowest income families pay almost 17 percent of their income in taxes, while the wealthiest families pay about 2 percent of their income in taxes. The proposed changes would mean that the wealthiest residents would pay about 2 percent more.

It’s hard to believe that our legislators need to have this debate.

Lee Taylor

Spokane