Senate operating budget is proof Democrats can't resist higher spending

The Senate operating budget for 2021-23 was approved on April 1 by a 27-22 vote, with two Democrats joining all Republicans in opposition. It is fitting this plan (Senate Bill 5092) was passed on April Fools’ Day. The sharp spending increase found in this budget can be viewed as a bad joke on Washington taxpayers.

Total spending in the Senate budget is $59.5 billion. It’s $7 billion more than the current budget, or equal to a 13% increase in spending. If the Senate plan is enacted, the operating budget will have grown by over $20 billion, or over 50%, in just six years. This is out-of-control spending that will come back to haunt our state in the future when – not if – we encounter an economic downturn and there isn’t a strong state revenue increase or federal stimulus money to bail the government out. This budget plan shows the majority Democrats have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

Prior to the Senate’s vote on the proposed operating budget, my Republican colleagues brought up several amendments, including one that would replace the Democratic approach with a Senate Republican alternative. Ours would meet the state’s needs without raising taxes or creating new ones, and without emptying the state’s rainy-day fund. It included a provision that would dedicate the sales tax on motor vehicles – estimated to be over $2 billion per biennium – to fund road and highway projects. The Senate Republican budget proposal was $4 billion lower than the Democratic plan. Unfortunately, all of our amendments were defeated.

It was my hope that this year the Senate’s majority Democrats would take advantage of some incredible one-time revenue opportunities and create a new operating budget that relied on existing funding and not resort to raising taxes or creating new ones.

In the past few weeks, the Legislature received two bits of tremendous news.

First, the state Economic Revenue and Forecast Council announced that the first state-revenue forecast for this year showed a surprisingly large increase of $3.3 billion through the 2021-23 budget cycle and $5.2 billion over the next four years.

It is the largest positive quarterly forecast change on record. Since the state operating budget must balance over four years, that gave legislative budget writers $5 billion more available in state funds than what was forecast in November.

Soon after the revenue forecast came more great news in the form of $10 billion in stimulus funding from Congress.

Between an incredible state revenue projection, a massive influx of federal stimulus funding, and a healthy balance in our state’s rainy-day fund, there’s no need for the Legislature to create any new taxes – especially a state income tax on capital gains – to help fund the operating budget. Right? Unfortunately, the Democrats believe otherwise. Senate Bill 5096, the proposal creating a 7% state income tax on capital gains, was passed by the Senate last month and is sitting in the House

The Senate operating budget also relies on a “carbon cap-and-tax” proposal, SB 5126, which would set statewide emissions limits. If this bill becomes law, it will tax people $500 million a year just to have a permit to emit carbon. It’s also expected to cause gas prices to increase 20 cents a gallon, eventually rising an additional 40 cents by the end of the decade. And there is no guarantee this money would even be used to help pay for our roads and highways, as our proposal for using the current sales tax on vehicle sales for roads would.

To contact Democratic leaders and tell them what you think of the state income-tax bill, the Senate operating budget or other bills, call the toll-free Legislative Hotline at 1-800-562-6000. It’s your state government and you have a right to be heard.

– Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, has served the 9th District since 1993.