Washington already has one of the highest state sales tax rates in the US, at 6.5%, a little behind New Jersey and California. Total averages with local taxes are at 8.5% already, behind only TN and LA. King county in WA sits pretty at 9%. King County recently increased its sales tax by .5% to 9.5%.
And, that’s only for the next 6 months, at which point the Council will decide whether to increase it further. I found an interesting document about the County budget. County revenues have grown by 2-3 percent over the past few years, but county expenses have grown by 4-5% to provide “the same level of public services.” The council is not even apologetic about its splurge, but claims that the money is being spent for the benefit of the citizens. The authors of the report claim that the “County must make tough decisions to close the gap and balance the budget” by, lo and behold, increasing our taxes.
Instead of cutting administrative bloat, the County decides to extract more money from its citizens. In this economy, does it make economic sense to financially harass citizens? A news report claimed that most people won’t even notice the .5% increase because it is so minor. Hey, only 50 cents for every 100 dollars.
The state now wants to increase the sales tax by .3%, taking our total tax rate to 9.8% here in King County. Hey, that’s only 30 cents for every 100 dollars. The increase is “temporary” and will last only 3 years, as Angela Russel puts it cheerily on KIRO TV at 11. That’s, let’s see, more of my hard earned money taken away from me for the next 3 years to pay for services that I probably never will avail. To pay for services that could be funded just as easily by cutting the administrative bloat in the Gregoire administration. Gregoire has grown her personal fiefdom by an astounding 30% over the past 4 years – I can’t find the link now, but will post it when I do.
The state has put medical services on the line by claiming that either you pay up or “you die” as Tim Eyman puts it. Joe Hyer, an idiot interviewed by Kiro TV, claims that he is willing to pay additional taxes for medical services.
I am not. I don’t care what excuse the state makes. I don’t care what the tax will pay for. I do not want to pay any more taxes. I do not want to pay for Gregoire’s and King County’s crazy liberal agendas any more than I already am.
So Obama is giving us an additional 8 dollars a week in his “change” inspired tax cuts, and Gregoire is going to take it all away through her constant tax increases. I am still waiting for the state income tax.
