Fact Check: Gov. Inslee’s office angry over Inslee’s own stance on taxes

This week, MyNorthwest.com published an article depicting Governor Jay Inslee’s willingness to consider property taxes to fund education. His office wasn’t so happy with us.

The article was based on an interview the Governor gave to Seattle’s Morning News with Dave Ross on the morning of the WA primary.

In an email to our editor, Communications Director Jamal Raad indicated that the Governor “never mentioned property taxes” and asked that the article be updated. In a phone call with my producer, who called to invite the Governor on my show, Raad was angry and the conversation was tense, as he tried to reach the MyNorthwest.com editors for a correction.

Did MyNorthwest.com inaccurately portray the Governor’s comments? Does Raad have a point? Let’s fact check this.

The Context.

The article that drew the ire of the Governor’s office was titled, “Gov. Inslee doesn’t rule out tax increase to pay for education.” You should read it in full here.

Having listened to the interview, it’s pretty clear Governor Inslee would consider using property taxes to fund education per the McCleary decision.

Dave Ross indicated he hasn’t heard how the funding would be paid for, said “it would have to be a property tax,” before asking “what kind of tax increase would there be?”

Inslee said “…that remains to be seen.”

Ross then specifically asked the Governor, “Are you willing to make any commitment or promise limiting how high that tax increase should be as people are trying to decide who to vote for?”

“Yes,” Inslee explained. “If there is, if there is, and I repeat ‘if’, it won’t be a dollar more than is absolutely necessary…”

So, yes, he supports the idea of using a property tax (or any tax, for that matter) to fund education. He did not personally use the term “property tax” in his explanation. So what? Why would he? Ross asked about the property tax and he could have said no, but instead, embraced the idea of the tax as a possibility.

His staff should be upset at the Governor, not MyNorthwest.com, for the statement he made. And that’s a rather gutsy statement to make during an election: Inslee supports a tax hike for education if he deems it necessary. That’s a clear differentiator between he and his Republican challenger Bill Bryant. No wonder his staff doesn’t want it reported.

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