‘Pie crust promise’: Policy expert says WA lawmakers can’t be trusted on income tax limits

As Washington legislators consider signing off on a millionaires’ tax, critics believe that if the income tax is imposed, it will continue to trickle down further below $1 million.

Todd Myers, Vice President for Research at the Washington Policy Center, cautioned taxpayers about the income tax proposal, noting lawmakers have admitted they can’t be trusted and will act in their best interests to address the state’s $4 billion budget shortfall.

“I have a theory that all of politics can be explained by the movie Animal House. One of the quotes that I constantly use is, ‘Face it, you effed up. You trusted us,'” Myers said on “The John Curley Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “They have proposed the state income tax; we knew they were going to do this. Senate Majority Leader Jamie Pederson announced it and was told that two years ago, he voted on a voter initiative that 400,000 people signed, promising that he wouldn’t impose an income tax.

“He said that’s a pie crust promise, easily made, easily broken,” Myers continued. “Why should anybody trust that they won’t simply take the income tax and lower the thresholds to apply to everyone? He said this year, ‘You shouldn’t.’ It’s not that I don’t trust them; it’s that they’re saying don’t trust us.”

WA’s income tax revenue won’t address immediate shortfall, Myers says

Myers raised concerns that the money generated from the income tax won’t even reach their target for a few more years, leaving room for additional taxes to address an ongoing budget issue.

“The proposal they made today generates about $8 billion starting in 2028 and 2029, but that doesn’t deal with the $4 billion shortfall that they have starting next year,” Myers said. “What we’re likely to see is that they will pass this, and then still end up with a $4 billion shortfall. They will have to either cut spending, which they don’t like to do, or find more taxes to do that.”

Curley questioned the legality of an income tax in Washington in general, to which Myers plainly responded that what is being proposed is “unconstitutional” to a certain extent.

“It’s unconstitutional. The state constitution says that you can do an income tax, but it can only be 1%, and it has to be uniform. Everybody has to pay 1%, you can’t put a tax on some people and not others,” Myers said. “This is clearly outside of that. When they’re asked that question, they say, ‘We hope the Supreme Court will overturn all of the previous rulings they’ve had, consistently ruling the income tax is unconstitutional.’ They’re hoping the Supreme Court will be political and overlook all previous rulings.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to John Curley weekday afternoons from 3 – 7 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

Follow @https://twitter.com/jcurleyshow