SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES

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

Feb 25, 2020, 4:42 PM

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.

Lindsay Clancy listens to testimony during her murder trial in Plymouth Superior Court, on Wednesda...

Associated Press

What to know about the Lindsay Clancy murder trial

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is in the hands of a jury after a month of searing testimony about the deaths of her three children in 2023 and the psychiatric problems she experienced before she killed them. Closing arguments concluded Thursday in the case, which has sparked debate online and demonstrations outside the courthouse over maternal […]

20 minutes ago

starbucks pickets seattle...

John Curley Show

Curley says Starbucks strikers should quit as boycott begins, argues robots will replace baristas anyway

Starbucks Workers United, the union representing baristas at more than 550 locations, is calling for a boycott after contract negotiations have stalled.

27 minutes ago

Nelson County, Ky., jailer Justin Hall shows an electric shock glove that is used at his facility, ...

Associated Press

Group of Democratic senators calls on ICE to cancel plan to buy electric shock gloves

A group of U.S. senators led by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada urged Immigration and Customs Enforcement to cancel its plan to outfit officers with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks. In a letter to ICE’s acting director Thursday, Cortez Masto and 15 of her colleagues in the Democratic caucus questioned ICE’s need […]

33 minutes ago

pioneer square restaurant close...

Jason Sutich

Pioneer Square Italian restaurant joins growing list of closures after World Cup, owner cited escalating costs

Luigi's Italian Eatery is slated to shutter next month after more than a decade of operating in Pioneer Square, becoming the latest of many businesses to close.

1 hour ago

This photo provided by the Shedd Aquarium shows a rescued beluga whale arriving, Aug. 13, 2026, at ...

Associated Press

Beluga whale dies at Chicago aquarium days after coming from Canada park in rescue effort

CHICAGO (AP) — A beluga whale died days after it was transported hundreds of miles to a Chicago aquarium from a shuttered Ontario park as part of an ongoing effort to rescue Canada’s last captive whales. The whale, a 23-year-old female named Peekachu, died suddenly Tuesday as caretakers tried to rehydrate her, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium […]

1 hour ago

ask ursula wife depressed...

Ursula Reutin

Ask Ursula: My wife seems withdrawn and depressed. What do I do?

Dear Ursula, I'm sure my wife is depressed. We’ve been married for more than 30 years. She’s a little older than me. I’m 60, and she’s retired.

2 hours ago

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