SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

Dori: Record tax revenues, but Dems in Leg still want more of your money

Feb 25, 2020, 4:42 PM

Olympia, tax revenues, education funding...

(File, Associated Press)

(File, Associated Press)

Washington state has record tax revenues, $1.5 billion more than projected. In any normal world, the legislators would start giving this money back to the taxpayers who have clearly shown through recent votes ($30 tabs, anyone?) they want tax cuts.

People are over-taxed around here, so what does our Legislature turn around and do? It spends the $1.5 billion in tax revenues that it didn’t expect to collect on massive tax hikes.

A Spokane-area legislator described seeing a homeless couple shivering under a blanket and tearfully testified that this money is needed to solve homelessness. Olympia is already spending $400 million every biennial budget on homelessness. Seattle and King County together spend $1 billion on homelessness every year, or $100,000 per homeless person per year. Now they have the audacity to say that if we just give them more money, the problem will be fixed.

As long as drugs are essentially legal in King County, things will never get better. We are importing the nation’s problems because this is the land of milk and honey for heroin addicts. You can do drugs on the street, even sell them, without facing any repercussions. So many of the violent attacks on people in Seattle, such as the attempted rape at Golden Gardens, are committed by homeless people who came here from other states.

Dori: Radical Legislature couldn’t wait to file income tax brief

As opposed to what Olympia is saying, I think it is an inverse proportion — the more we spend, the worse it gets. This is the place where everything is free, lowest barrier if you want to be a heroin addict.

The Legislature is driving me insane. The proposed budget is $54.5 billion. It was in the 30s just a few short years ago.

Socialism destroys great economies. Venezuela is a prime example — 20 years ago, it was the richest country in South America. Then they let socialism come in, and now grocery shelves are empty and people have to wait hours for a loaf of bread. How has our Legislature not learned from what is glaringly obvious elsewhere?

The Legislature also wants to spend more money on transportation. They always promise us that every new tax will fix the gridlock. We’ve just spent $54 billion on Sound Transit 3. Metro Transit gets billions in a tax hike. Now they want a little more?

No one has your back in this state. The Republicans in the Legislature do, but they are so greatly outnumbered at the moment. Things will only start to change when you start to say, “We’ve had enough,” and stop electing Democrats.

Listen to the Dori Monson Show weekday afternoons from 12-3 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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Dori: Record tax revenues, but Dems in Leg still want more of your money