Democrats want $20 billion more

Democrat legislators claim there's a state-government budget shortfall of $12 to $15 billion, yet several of my colleagues in the state Senate just filed legislation to take much more than that through new and higher taxes -- nearly $20 billion.

Only in Olympia would anyone think that makes sense. But as Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, I can tell you how unnecessary and wrong their tax scheme is.

This would be the largest tax increase in state history. Everyone knows what the Climate Commitment Act has done to their cost of living, by driving up the cost of gas at the...