State income tax (yet again)

HB 2224, with the longwinded and deceitful title, "an act Relating to investing in education and essential public services by modifying and improving the fairness of Washington's excise tax system by enacting an excise tax on capital gains [income], narrowing or eliminating tax preferences, reinstating a previously expired business and occupation surtax while increasing the small business tax credit, and implementing marketplace fairness in Washington," has been scheduled for a public hearing by the House Committee on Finance.

Date and Time: 03/31/2015 8:00AM (Subject to change by the Legislature.)
Location: John L. O'Brien Building, House Hearing Rm A, Olympia, WA

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The state didn't even send out the notice until 8 hours before the hearing in order to intercept possible objection from the people to yet another tax.  An excise tax on income from capital gains is a doorway to an income tax on all income.   The people have repeatedly voted down an income tax. This is legislative fraud.

This "notice" is an announcement they are going to do whatever they want and screw the people.

These are the names of the backers of this bill.  Let 'em know what you think.

Representative Reuven Carlyle, Prime Sponsor
Democrat
Seattle
(360) 786-7814
Reuven.Carlyle@leg.wa.gov

Representative Ross Hunter
Democrat
Medina
(360) 786-7936
Ross.Hunter@leg.wa.gov

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Update 4/8/15: The sponsors list has expanmded to include more greedy politicians in the legislature:

Representative Sam Hunt
Democrat
Olympia
(360) 786-7992
Sam.Hunt@leg.wa.gov

Representative Ruth Kagi
Democrat
Lake Forest Park
(360) 786-7910
Ruth.Kagi@leg.wa.gov

Representative Brady Walkinshaw
Democrat
Seattle
(360) 786-7826
Brady.Walkinshaw@leg.wa.gov

Condotta’s 2015 update on a legislative tax scam

I want to bring to your attention a very bad piece of legislation for the 12th District, and for the state for that matter.
House Bill 1938 looks harmless when you read the bill title - relating to tourism marketing. However, It would require about 80 percent of businesses in our region to pay a tourism tax that would then go to a 13-person board to decided where the money goes. Click "tourism tax video" to learn more.
Again, this would be a required tax on most businesses. There is no option to participate, meaning this is a $15 million tax increase in general.
Supporters say it is targeted at the tourism industry businesses but when you get into the details of the bill, fees would be imposed on more than just tourism, including:

• lodging;
• food service;
• attractions and entertainment;
• retail; and
• transportation.

I am all for establishing a tourism alliance or some type of statewide chamber of commerce, but forced dues on most businesses is the wrong approach, and as I mentioned in the video, perhaps not even constitutional.
Sincerely,
Cary Condotta

"Smarting" government

State government is under the gun to fulfill its court-ordered obligations to fully fund schools. No one doubts that the funds exist to meet the McCleary case, the real fight is how much the rest of state government should grow.

House Democrats will reveal their budget proposal on Monday. We’ll see how realistic they choose to be. All indications are that it will include a cap-and-trade carbon tax. What’s unclear is whether the Democrats even have the votes to pass cap-and-trade – Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon gave a pretty political non-answer to Austin Jenkins’ direct question on TVW.

The fiscal reality is, the state will have $3 billion more in its next two-year budget than the current one. That’s an 8% increase to deal with the required education spending increases. But that’s not good enough for some. In his budget proposal, Gov. Inslee called for new taxes that would grow state spending by 15.4%. That’s a big jump.

Do House Democratic leaders think their members have the stomach for big tax increases? We’ll find out Monday.

– Rob McKenna

Halftime at the legislature

It’s halftime in the 2015 legislative session, and now Legislators are retreating to their districts to hold constituent (that’s you) town halls. Here are the dates and times for the town halls.

This is your opportunity to hear what important issues Legislators are working on, and for you to ask them questions.

If you are short on questions, here are a few we think would be great to ask:

1. Do you support right-to-work legislation in Washington?
2. What are you doing to make sure that labor unions are transparent and accountable to the public employees they represent?
3. Do you support transparent collective bargaining negotiations?
4. What are you doing to protect the interests of taxpayers in public-sector collective bargaining?
5. Will you support legislation that gives state workers the choice whether they want to join an employees union or not? 

It’s up to each of us to hold our Legislators accountable, and until we remove the stranglehold public-sector unions have on our government, no idea which limits the growth of government will survive.

Thank you for all you do.

From the Freedom Foundation