Sometimes, you just have to do the right thing…
The last time the state had a comparable budget shortfall was in 1981-1982, when Republicans controlled both houses and the governor’s mansion. The Republicans raised taxes to help deal with their budget woes, and come the 1982 elections, Democrats were elected back into power in both the House and the Senate. Two years later, Republican Gov. John Spellman was voted out as well. In 1993, majority Democrats had to raise taxes and cut programs to deal with budget problems, and in 1994, lost their majority in the House and hung on to a one-seat majority in the Senate.
Gregoire said that history lesson shows it won’t be easy.
“There’s no easy way out of this,” she said. “And you have to look past the political consequences, and do what your heart and your head says is the right thing to do.”
And if the right thing to do is raising some taxes to help the state through these tough economic times, as both Republicans and Democrats have reluctantly done in the past, let’s hope that Gov. Gregoire is able to lead the legislature toward it, the political consequences be damned.
Washington’s chronic issue is that state budgets depend on taxing those least able to pay. This can’t but stifle public services. The only long-term corrective for this situation is tax reform.
Gregoire is a second-term governor with plenty of unspent political capital, the unquestioned leader of her party, and her party has near-supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature. No Washington governor has ever been, or is likely to ever be, better positioned to move on tax reform than Gregoire is right now.
Her legacy and reputation should, and will, depend on whether she acts on this issue or ignores it and leaves the festering problem of tax inequity for future generations to grapple with.
Just finished lunch…now this??
Gregoire makes me want to puke!
The right thing is to keep your word.
To say one thing to get elected and another 5 months later speaks to her character…or lack thereof.
What Gregoire failed to point out is that she KNOWINGLY increased spending by $8 Billion in the face of a recession and has done NOTHING Substantive to date to rein in costs.
This is truly pathetic.
Will the Media let this BS pass with a straight face??
What a pathetic attempt at finger pointing and a “spin”. Since Queen Crissy and Co. are a huge part and reason of why we are now in this massive deficit in the first place, she can look up the word “hypocrit” in the dictionary. Chickenshit bitch can’t even admit her mistakes, let alone take responsibility. Crash and Burn Greggie; no sale.
I can never tell if Mr. Cynical is joking, or not. Doesn’t really matter, either way.
Goldy/Gov left one IMPORTANT DETAIL out of that story. The reason Republicans got the boot in the early ’80’s: they tried to balance the budget by taxing food. Which the Dems later repealed.
It’s that kind of cave-dweller thinking which makes R’s so dang popular.
It should never be forgotten that ex-Gov. Spellman used the 1981-82 recession as an excuse to screw state employees in a way that only Republicans are capable of.
In those days, state workers were paid monthly. Spellman put them on a bimonthly pay cycle with a holdback. When this was implemented, state workers had to wait 6 weeks for their next paycheck. There was no gradual phase-in; the workers were told the day before their paychecks were due that they would not be paid for another 6 weeks. Many couldn’t make their mortgage payments that month, and some literally couldn’t buy food.
Spellman’s stated reason for this maneuver was to save the state money in the midst of a budget crunch. In actuality, by holding the workers’ pay in bank accounts for 6 weeks, the state earned $4 million in interest — a piddling amount compared to the budget shortfall, and certainly not worth the hardship it inflicted on the workers.
Spellman publicly urged mortgage lenders and landlords to “voluntarily” forbear from assessing late fees against state workers who couldn’t make their mortgage or rent pyaments. Not a single lender or landlord is known to have complied with this request.
But Spellman went further, affirmatively demonstrating his Republican mean streak against the state workers. He ordered DSHS to deny all applications from state workers for food stamps, whether they qualified or not. Many did, and a class action lawsuit brought by Legal Services against DSHS resulted in a court decision 2 years later that forced DSHS to issue the food stamps those workers should have received. But this didn’t help hungry families at the time they needed help — because their employer had stiffed them — and the lawsuit more than wiped out the $4 million that Spellman made for the state by imprisoning workers’ paychecks in interest-bearing bank accounts.
In the next election 100,000 state workers and their families retaliated by voting Spellman out of office, making him a one-term governor. It’s not a stretch to say his payroll maneuver may have cost him a quarter million votes.
Given how little the $4 million contributed to state finances, the people who lived through this (I was one of them) were left with the conviction that Spellman did it out of pure meanness.
Nothing in the years since has changed my mind about that. In fact, this impression repeatedly has been reinforced by Republicans who transfer their hatred of government to the people who work for government. It makes no difference whether you’re a policymaker or a janitor, if you work for the state, they hate you — and encourage their followers to hate you.
Why any state employee, or any member of a household head up by a state worker, would ever vote for any Republican for a statewide or legislative office, is beyond me. It’s like playing with a loaded gun and trying to shoot your own balls off with it.
@2 “Gregoire makes me want to puke!”
Why settle for puking? Why not upgrade to choking? You’d be doing your goats a favor.
Same question goes for Mark 1, last of the rednecks. Is he a joke, too? Somebody’s parody of an angry, middle-aged, broken, drunk, conservative white guy?
Or, is he a real dude?
If these trolls are real dudes, do they realize how pathetic and whine-y the sound? The GOP manchild caucus, I suppose.
Poor, poor, Cynical! His boy Dino got ass-whumped TWICE by Gregoire and he just can’t STAND it!! WE WON, YOU LOST!!! TWICE!!! Gregoire is GOVERNOR and Dino isn’t!!! Loooooser!!!
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Poor Cynical! He can’t stand that Gregoire WON and Dino LOST!! Twice!!! Gregoire is GOVERNOR and Dino isn’t, neener neener!!!
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
Let’s balance the budget by raising taxes on commercial property owned by nonresidents. Those leeches transfer local money out of state while bleeding local taxpayers for services like police and fire protection.
@3 “no sale”
Really? She sold pretty well last November!
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
How’s it feel to be irrelevant, Mark?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
5 – Brilliant RR. Even people on our side of the aisle often forget what a valuable resource of institutional memory we have here with you.
With mean-spirited shenanigans liked that pulled by the likes of Spellman, these wingnuts wonder why Republicans almost always lose in this state.
Lord help me, but I have to agree with Cynical a bit here.
How long have we all known that this budgetary train wreck was coming? Even without this recession, everyone knew that this state budget was not sustainable with the current tax structure. Where was the leadership then to go after tax reform?
I’m no great fan of Ron Sims, but at least he had the guts in his run for governor to propose a pretty decent tax reform program. I have never understood the reluctance to even talk about tax reform in this state…I elect leaders to lead.
Kudos to RR at 5 for this:
I would extend that to any government job – it doesn’t matter if it’s the state, county, or city – most folks have no idea nor do they care how government works, they just want it to work for them.
@11 Then, as now, state employees tended to vote Democratic, so it was widely believed at the time that Spellman did it to retaliate against a group who voted for his opponent.
But then, as now, a substantial percentage of state employees — especially those living and working in eastern Washington — were Republican voters and supporters, and Spellman screwed them along with the rest.
From Spellman to Bush 43, a common characteristic of Republican politicians is their willingness to fuck over their own supporters.
In other words, be a Republican at your own risk, because neither the party nor the politicians will reward your support or take care of you. They have zilch loyalty to their own followers.
Which makes being a Republican stupid and self-destructive.
The Democrats OWN the budget shortfall. And when they spent all the money, what is the solution? Raise taxes of course….
The state took in more money last year than 2007. Yet the budget gap is widening… Spending is out of step, not revenues.
Sorry if services and programs have to be cut. Sorry if salaries have to be cut. Sorry that the State grew spending faster than revenues…It’s the Democrats that brought us this problem. The Democrats own it.
Most of what’s posted by Cynical (not to mention the other trolls) qualifies as puke anyway.
5 It might also be pointed out that 30 years ago, it was still more or less universally the case that working for the government in a professional capacity meant better job security (as opposed to, for instance, the hire-and-fire world of aerospace), but significantly lower pay.
@14 “The Democrats OWN the budget shortfall.”
Hogwash. The two principal causes of the state budget crisis are:
1. The Republican Depression; and,
2. Republican opposition to state tax reform.
From the trolls, we keep hearing a song and dance about Democratic spending. The truth is that, even after Gregoire’s spending increases, state spending on a per capita basis is at a historically low level compared to past administrations, including Republican administrations.
It’s no surprise we’re unable to fund essential public services that taxes those least able to pay while giving a free ride to the affluent segment of the state’s population. Even so, given the ultra-lean state government that has by necessity developed over the decades under a succession of revenue-starved austerity budgets, we nevertheless would have made ends meet if Republican mismanagement at the national level hadn’t put the economy in the toilet.
Washington’s current budget woes are just one more fallout from the political and economic nuclear winter that followed the Bush coup d’etat.
@16 That was only slightly true then, and is entirely untrue now. Over the last 30 years, entire state agencies have disappeared, and their staffs with them; others enormously downsized (e.g., Employment Security). Many state managers ran their programs like little fiefdoms, and if they wanted to get rid of someone, they simply made his/her life so miserable the employee had no choice but to quit. Plus, above the clerical level, a large percentage of state jobs were exempt or management service that had no civil service protections. And in the civil service positions, most state employees were stuck in dead-end jobs with no hope of future promotions or pay increases. And, unlike in the private sector, you were constantly vulnerable to political pressures, changes of administration, and — for anyone with decision-making responsibilities — retaliation.
@4 raises an interesting point. Where would the tax increases ultimately fall?
I have no idea how how this works in a state with no income tax and high sales and property taxes.
You can go the route of taxing vices and luxuries, which is always popular, but not clear how much money you can raise that way.
Now if only the baboon inhabiting the Governor’s Mansion down here in Carson City……. oh waitaminute, he’s not staying there because his wife is living there while their divorce is ongoing……
Oh bother. Where was I?
Oh yeah. Now if only the baboon (not) inhabiting the Governor’s Mansion down here in Carson City could have an illuminating thought like that. He just wants to shut down half the state’s colleges and universities instead.
@17
C’mon RR.
When are you Democrats going to take responsibility?
1. The Republican Depression;
Wa state took in more revenue last year, 2008, than any other year….Up from 2007. Hardly a depression. Next…..
2. Republican opposition to state tax reform.
This is BS and you know it. If Democrats wanted tax reform then Ron Sims would have been the candidate for Gov in 2004….The Democrats could push tax reform if they wanted too, but know that it would mean utter defeat at the polls the next election cycle….
On another note here…..
Do you then blame congressional Democrats for obstructing regulation of Freddie and Fannie?
You can’t have it both ways….
I should point out that a number of people from the right have assumed that the costs of government services increase linearly as a function of population. This is a false assumption. A number of government services require infrastructure that has capacity limits. Once population reaches a certain threshold, maintaining a consistent level of government services requires new capital investments over and above the expenditures required to simply maintain that infrastructure.
Specific examples of this are left as an exercise for the reader, but there’s a very obvious one that should come readily to mind.
@4
I’d forgotten about the sales tax on food! Yeah, that was some crazy shit.
@4
I’d forgotten about the sales tax on food! Yeah, that was some crazy shit.
23 More and more members of the right reject even that, and fervently believe that either:
(1.) They’ll do just fine if they can kill off or marginalize all those….other people.
(2.) The Eymanesque snake-oil pitch that it’s possible to get something for nothing.
It’s been pointed out by a number of observers that all the frantic condo development in Ballard hasn’t been accompanied by a whit of infrastructure improvements to support it. Nary a new traffic signal, to say nothing of additional water, power and sewerage capacity. We might see the day when someone on the top floor of the new condo block that breaks the figurative camel’s back flushes a toilet for the first time, and everything backs up and floats the entire district across the Sound to become part of Kitsap County.
A Harvard economics professor just wrote a book in which he stated that legalizing hemp for any purpose would boost the economy by at least $77 billion a year.
I bet the State of Washington could get $2 billion or so if it taxed the evil weed at the same rate it taxes alcohol.
So, I have just personally solved 25% of the budget crises. All the politicians in this country will not manage to come up with the other 75% without raising taxes or cutting services.
Right Stuff@22, every Pellet from Pelletizer is BS.
Pelletizer@5: About John Spellman
First thing .. 94 was a disastrous year for D’s across the country and of course in Congress .. remember the Speaker from Spokane? I don’t believe there was any fallout over our tax increase.
Second .. Lowry won against Eikenberry, in 92, because he stood up to the proposition that he wouldn’t balance the budget on the backs of kids and poor people, saying he would raise taxes if that’s what it took. Eikenberry essentially said “read my lips” no new taxes, even though we were facing a massive budget shortfall. The election turned on that issue.
Had Lowry chosen to run again in 96, he didn’t, he would have won reelection. Democrats won the gov’s seat anyway with Gary Locke, another progressive Democrat.
Funny thing is that voters actually reward leadership, but even if they didn’t the fact is that, as former governor Dan Evans points out, “the price of leadership is risk”.
31…and the price of lack thereof is certain failure.
Here is part of what Gregoire told the Seattle Times in January, 2007:
Legislature 2007
Gregoire proposes $4 billion increase in spending
Shame on Gregoire!!
She IS responsible for the current mess.
The buck stops with Gregoire.
Here is another condemning point from that same Times article:
That January, 2007 Times article is the most condemning thing I’ve read to date.
Gregoire has admitted she PRE-MEDITATEDLY Killed the Washington State Economy.
Cynical, you have to stop providing historical facts or you’ll win your second golden goat…
You know proud loony likes to stroke em before delivery…:)
@36 Would you please remove Mr. Klynical’s head from your ass? Have you no dignity, Puddy? None at all?
@27
Um… Wasn’t the GMA supposed to prevent that sort of thing?
steve–
Care to comment on the 2007 Times article.
How about that Gregoire!
You’d think she has a split-personality or something more destructive.
@25 Yeah, taxing food instead of investment income is what the Republicans around here do, which is one of the many reasons why they are a nearly nonexistent party in Washington State.
@30 It’s about time you admitted Republicans have bad character. What took you so long?
33, 34 – Too bad Gregoire didn’t foresee the Great Republican Economic Meltdown of 2007 -2008. What’s even sadder is that my stockbroker didn’t foresee it, either. Worst of all, neither did I.
42 RR – yet the Democrats have controlled WA state for the last 20 years. What is your excuse?
33 Cynical – shame on Gregoire? She just got reelected by a huge margin. I think the WA state residents love her and the Democrats.
Rabbit @ 42–
I did and got all out in 2007 because I’m not as greedy and stupid as you are. Actually Rog, you constantly said the economy was going down the shitter..yet stayed. Why?? With all your rhetoric and you failed to act??
More Stupid than Greedy.
Gregoire has done NOTHING substantive to reduce costs since it became apparent even to a moron like you Rog. NOTHING! And that ain’t me talkin’…it’s Commerce Secretary GARY LOCKE and Locke’s former Budget Director.
Had Gregoire only increased spending by $4 Billion instead of $8 Billion, we would have $4 Billion more in the coffers and $4 Billion less to support this Biennium.
WE WOULDN’T EVEN BE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION YOU KLOWNS!!
Trying to convince the Public that this debacle isn’t a spending problem…it’s just because our taxes aren’t high enough is going to be more laughs than a barrel of KLOWNS!
44. Crusader spews:
How about this:
Shame on Gregoire for lying?
AND shame on the voters who elected her for electing a liar.
Thanks.
@42
But she should have because the warnings were everywhere. At just the time Gregoire uttered the words @33 the housing bubble was peaking or had peaked in California and elsewhere, and it was clear we had a serious housing problem on our hands throughout the country:
http://www.housingbubblebust.c.....acker.html
The media was focusing on the issue by then, and as Paul Krugman has written:
“The big mystery is the failure to see the housing bubble. The data screamed “bubble”, even in real time. And there was no excuse for believing that such things don’t happen in efficient markets, not with the dead body of the dot-com bubble still warm.”
Gregoire and government leaders elsewhere chose to ignore the data and the warnings being issued with increasing frequency as they charged ahead with their spending plans. The budget problems we face now did not just appear out of left field.
6. Mr. Cynical:
Shame on WA state residents? I don’t think they are feeling very ashamed right now. Maybe you should move to Idaho.
Crusader–
The proof will be in the results of the Tax Ballot Initiative AND the 2010 elections.
I think you are mistaken.
Plenty of Washington State residents do not like what she has done..including many State Employees.
She went crazy…trying to spend us away from a recession..just like Obama says he is gonna do.
Fools…again.
@49 Cynical – if you are wrong about the 2010 elections, will you move out of this state? Willing to MAN UP and lay it ALL on the line?
Crusader–
I’m not a quitter.
Are you?
@51 Mr Cynical
No you are not a quiteer .. just not willing to pay your debts. That makes you a Welcher.
The State of Washington is no different than any other organization you belong to. it/we are how in debt and we need to pay that debt.
Of course, we could just not pay the bills … let the prisons close, leave our kids uneducated, let the roads collapse, sounds good doesn’t it?
Howsit that the right .. Reagan/Bush only idea is to cut taxes by borrowing money?
Oh I forget, you are a troll so spelling responsibility is too hard for you.
“How about that Gregoire”
How about that Cynical and his ability to post while he has his head up Puddy’s ass? Or how about that Puddy and the obvious pleasure he gets from having Cynical’s head up his ass?
@52 The State of Washington is no different than any other organization you belong to. it/we are how in debt and we need to pay that debt.
We are now in debt? But how many times have we been informed on these pages by Goldy and others that we don’t actually have a deficit, but a projected deficit?
Whatever you wish to call it, the time to worry about it was when spending was being run up DESPITE a full blown housing bubble and calls on these pages by others for prudence.
Those voices were ignored and even ridiculed. My guess is you were celebrating along with the governor.
And now you’re lecturing people on the need to pay off the debt that you helped run up DESPITE the warnings?
Too much.
The answer to any faux-deficits is to tax the wealthy up their ass. Just slap a 50% wealth/asset tax immediately and that will take care of any deficits for the next 10 years easily!
Gregoire forgot to mention the part where she is to BLAME for this mess, by drastically increasing our spending while knowing all along that we couldn’t pay for it if we hit a dramatic downturn.
54. deona spews:
Right on deona!
Seattle Jew has spent most of his career at the Academic Public trough…slurping up the slop at an accelerating rate until he has made himself ill. He is delusional about taxes and the never-ending increase in the cost of government. Seattle Jew never criticizes Gregoire and the Dems for overspending. He cowers in the academic corner quietly questioning skyrocketing costs of higher education. No wonder SJ is so….never mind.
55. Crusader spews:
Actually, with people like Obama, Reid, Pelosi and Gregoire in charge, it would be gone is one year and they would be back for more as their actions cause the economy to plummet further.
Steve@37, is that the best you can do when facts are provided?
pitiful Pitiful PITIFUL
Steve@53: Again, is that the best you can do when facts are provided?
pitiful Pitiful PITIFUL PITIFUL
Thank you Deona for that insightful commentary@54.
SJ@52: Why are Gregiore and the State Democratics proposing to spend $9 Billion more than the tax receipts coming in? Get their state budget house in order first.
While clueless wonder and others say Dino Lossi, Dino is laughing over this projected fiasco now becoming a real fiasco and he had nuthin to do with it.
No matter how Pelletizer throws worthless canards of 40,00 chillens removed from health rolls, it never happened fool!
@57 Right on deona!
—-
The story gets worse . . . .
These same people on HA who, like our government leaders, were clueless about the bubble despite the fact as Krugman stated YOU HAD TO HAVE BEEN BLIND TO HAVE MISSED IT, then remained silent on these pages as Gregoire paraded up and down the state swearing never to raise taxes because it was bad policy during a recession. This despite the fact that by then our financial system was in full blown crisis and our economy – and deficit – could only get much worse.
Finally, when the bubbles have burst, the crisis is upon us, and the “projected deficit” has run to the sky, do they wake up and question the governor’s leadership and solemn campaign pledge.
And after all this they want to provide us with their advice on taxes and the economy?
@62 Puddy
And waht would you cut?
@54 Deona @57 Mr Cynical
FWIW, I have never been a supporter of Gregoire. I voted for Rossi the first time. I voted against him last time because of his willingness to accept radical racist support and failure to make meaningful proposals. And yes, I have criticized Gregoire for lousy leadership including her recent campaign’s treatment of the deficit.
Does that make things any better now?
If the state does not pay its mandatory expenses, the courts will have to take over and force the state’s owners … guess who … to pay OUR bills.
There are only three alternatives. We can cut costs to the minimum required by law, ending higher ed and opening the doors at McNeil, we can borrow money using bonds that ought to be illegal under our constitution or we can raise taxes.
You pick.
@57 Mr. Cynical
Yep, I have served my Country. Where the fuck were you during Vietnam? Like most RRRR you weremore likely to be serving Mammon than the flag.
As for the rest of it, I most certainly have advocated for cost reductions in higher ed … read my posts on the wasted funds at Tacoma and Bothell or the subsidies to Pro Sports or moneys WE spend subsidizing Vulcan.
Now let me think when any one of your cowardly iRRRRR crew has made a simgle, rational, specific suggestion as to how we address this issue.
No new taxes, no way. Gregoire forgets that a lot of small business people are already paying horridly high B&O taxes, in addition to everything else.
#17: California has a sales tax AND state income tax. How’s that workin’ for THEM?
#1: Ignorant statement. Business taxes are hugely holding up this state. Clearly, you don’t pay any B&O tax, so you have no idea what other families are having to dish out for that tax. Business is holding up this state in a big way.
Let’s remind Gregoire of HER OWN campaign rhetoric, more deception of the voters, basically: “Now is not the time to raise taxes, or even TALK about raising taxes.”
So, Christine, which is it? The things you say before the election, or the ones after? Phoney!
@67: I hate those B&O taxes. Money leaves my bank account to the queen’s coffers for what benefit?
SeattleJew: What would Puddy cut? Good question. First we’d need to determine how the state is in this position. We don’t need to raise taxes on the rich and have a millionaire migration from WA like what’s going on in CA.
First Puddy’d make Gregiore go public and admit she caused the crisis and all of her campaign supporters who lied about Rossi telling the truth regarding the budget deficit.
Second Puddy’d make Gregoire explain what she spent $8 Billion on and why she promised to spend only $4 Billion back in 2007
Third Puddy’d determine if those additional 4000 state employees are necessary for the 2009-2011 biennium function of the state
Fourth Puddy’d ask Commerce Secretary Gary Locke what he thinks needs to be cut
Fifth Puddy’d ask Locke’s former budget director where’s da waste.
Sixth Puddy’d start Puddy’s own investigation into what is bloated and wasteful.
Seventh Puddy’d ask for performance audits of every department in the state for wasteful spending
Eighth Puddy’d look at what services can be cut with minimal impact to the state
Ninth Puddy’d see where the state has invested money and view the returns
Tenth Puddy’d demand Democratic voters to open their wallets and pitch in more $$$ since they were the ones who believed Gregiore’s campaign rhetoric about no budget coming shortfall and voted for her in 2008. Over 53% of the WA public voted for Gregiore so their taxes would go up. You all approved of her leadership so put your money where your mouth is. Puddy would start with the unions. Yeah! Puddy’d go through the ballots and send of you jokers a letter with additional tax payment demands. Sure this is constitutional. You all said yes to her leadership. Puddy not joking here. This was a pocketbook issue in the campaign. Puddy’d start Goldy’s NorthWest Division of Lunatic Moonbat! Beeeeyotches and Chimps with the biggest demands. Puddy would start with HA luminaries Goldy and Pelletizer. They wrote the most about Gregiore. Every liberal would get an additional “I supported Gregoire tax” payable by May 31st. This tax would be based on your family size to get an accurate leftist pinhead count.
Eleventh Puddy’d determine what extra funds came in from #10 and then start the painful process of cuts before any proposed taxes.
Now what would Puddy cut. Waste first. Bloated Bureaucracy second. Unneeded programs third. Puddy would have to perform a line by line budget investigation. Puddy would ask teachers to take more in the classrooms. Puddy would allow more applicants into college for more tuition $$$ coming in.
@59, 60 The shit-eating-grin posts you write after Mr. Klynical shoves his head up your ass are worth discussing here. Such discussion is very much in line with the “Republicans Suck” topic of each and every HA thread. If you don’t like it then you can both leave and not come back.
@68
#17: California has a sales tax AND state income tax. How’s that workin’ for THEM?
The fact that the great majority of states have state income taxes AND budget woes as bad or worse than ours is lost time and again on Goldy and HA in general. If you want to discuss a state income tax as a solution to a regressive tax system, fine. But more often than not it’s offered up as the solution to our budget woes, when scores of other states scream out that it isn’t.
And as to the argument it would only be used for high income earners as Goldy has stated, show me a state where an income tax has been restricted in this way. That’s being just a little opaque, and in the end it become just another tax on all wage earners.
And regarding the fact sheet Goldy provided that had the estimated revenue projections for a “high” income tax, I still haven’t seen the analysis behind it. The author didn’t provide nor reference it, and so my guess is Goldy never read it (which is perhaps why he wasn’t able to provide it). It’s hard to have the discussion Goldy wants to have with the fundamental analysis behind the claims AWOL.
Well Steve@73, your Stupid Solution postings are becoming more prevalent here on HA.
@75 Don’t like it? Then quit acting so orgasmic when Mr. Klynical sticks his head up your fucking ass.
Steve, who’s going orgasmic fool?
Puddy wrote:
You didn’t like that comment. Well too bad. Cynical has posted state spending facts for years here and you choose to ignore them
EPIC FAIL dude.
@ 74
The fact that the great majority of states have state income taxes AND budget woes as bad or worse than ours is lost time and again on Goldy and HA in general.
Not necessarily. Not all budget woes stem from the same basic causes.
Washington’s budget woes have a different underlying cause than do those of most other states. The state’s tax structure, particularly the B&O tax, is relatively sensitive to business cycles, which leads to a never-ending cycle of having to make relatively significant spending cuts during economic down-turns while making up for those spending cuts during up-turns.
Any tax that isn’t so directly correlated to business activity as Washington’s B&O tax would ease the magnitude of these cyclical swings.
Puddybud, will you be coming over for lunch today? Other folks from the BIAW will be there. I’m sure it will be a lively strategy session.
@77 “you choose to ignore them”
As I would ignore anybody who so willingly sticks his head up your ass. I do, however, admit that I pay attention to Mr. Klynical’s stock tips. Just do the opposite, I say, and you win big every time. Buy JRCC? Short it instead. It went from $70 to $4. Buy BOOM? Short it. It went from $40 to $10. Buy WFC? Short it. It went from $30 to $8.
steve-
You are setting the record for consecutive posts with nothing substantive to say.
Golden Goat candidate?
Methinks you and fellow racist ByeByeGoober ought to be co-recipients.
Are you drunk at the Kountry Klub already??
I love seeing some self-righteous Lefty belonging to some Kountry Klub, drinking Martini’s before lunch and crying a river for the poor! You are crazy man.
I have only one question for our resident pathological narcissist. How on earth do you breathe with your head up Puddy’s ass?
82. Steve spews:
Yet another comment with zero substance from our resident Martini slurping Kountry Klubber steve-o~ Keep drinking steve-o and keep posting without thinking. You and the other racist bastards from the LEFT (byebye, YLB, headlice…racists of a feather flock together)
83 – Racist?
Where does this fool get that?
Being right wing indicates brain damage!
California is a perfect example of liberal utopia run amok. But Goldy doesn’t talk about that?
She sounding like a broken record.
We demand No new taxes.
You all said that last year. Your all a bunch of Leftwing loser boy WIMPS.
You can’t be trusted on what you say especially when it comes to the important issues as tax increases during a hard recession is the most stupid idea a liberal would be for.
Shows how trustworthy they are and Words mean Nothing.
The fun part is watching liberals fighting democrats. This game is playing out all over America now. Stand by for a big Republican win!
Need to see who is winning the war read the liberals post on this site on how great loser boys is doing. LOL!!!!
I never have seen so many words spent on one man and his two teleprompters. Goldy must have need to add more servers just for loser boy. :)