The media is constantly whining and complaining and bemoaning special sessions. The stated and unstated message is “hurry up, so we in the media can write the final story and then we can go home.”
But the costs of a special session are microscopic compared to the taxing and spending decisions that a Legislature makes. I don’t want them to finish on time if it means imposing a new income tax or carbon taxes or job-killing business taxes. Take all the time in the world as long as it results in a no-new-taxes budget.
It’s the results that matter, not the duration getting there.
Inslee is obsessed with raising taxes. House Democrats are obsessed with raising taxes. Senate Democrats are obsessed with raising taxes. The Senate Majority Coalition Caucus and the House GOP are the only check — the only voice for fiscal discipline down there.
In 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016, it took a long time for the Democrats to finally accept the reality that taxpayers didn’t support massive tax hikes. The MCC and the House Republicans planted a flag early in each session, clearly calling for prudent, sustainable, fiscal discipline. Democrats threw hissy fits and tantrums, but in the end, they recognized that the GOP wasn’t going to give in to the Democrats’ childishness. It took a while, but the final budgets during those sessions received unprecedented vote totals in the House and Senate.
“Good things come to those who wait.” That phrase definitely describes the legislative process.
Government seems to always do the wrong thing when they’re rushed. When a crisis occurs and legislators say “we’ve got to do something,” that’s when bad legislation happens.
But when the legislative process moves like molasses, that’s when things usually turn out better.
So the message to Olympia is this: take all the time in the world as long as it results in a no-new-taxes budget.
There’s simply no public support for higher taxes this session. At the ballot box with our initiatives, we’ve repeatedly shown that nearly 2/3 of voters strongly oppose the Legislature raising taxes (and if you cut out the Seattle vote, the anti-tax vote in swing districts is even higher).
