Tag Archives: budget
State Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, voted against the Senate Democrats’ proposed two-year, $78.5 billion budget and issued the following statement:
“Today’s budget vote is a stark example of fiscal irresponsibility. Instead of addressing the $7 billion budget shortfall caused by their own poor planning, the legislative majority has chosen to rely on an unprecedented $20 billion in new taxes while simultaneously adding more spending.
Two years ago, they passed a $71 billion budget based on overly optimistic revenue projections, only to collect $66 billion. Instead of fixing the spending problem, they compounded it by adding nearly $2 billion in new programs. Now, they expect Washington families to foot the bill for their mistakes.
The majority’s policies keep regulating industries out of existence, destroying economic activity and tax revenue in the process. It’s like killing the golden goose—Washington families and businesses are left paying the price while the majority creates new spending obligations to fill the gap.
Senate Republicans proposed a responsible, balanced budget weeks ago that protects taxpayers while prioritizing public safety, education, and support for vulnerable populations—all without raising taxes. The majority’s refusal to adopt sustainable solutions is deeply disappointing.
Washingtonians deserve better than tax hikes and budgets that gamble with their future. We need accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility—not reckless spending and higher taxes.”
While the Legislature met earlier this week for a one-day special session to address the controversial drug-possession law known as the Blake fix, Gov. Jay Inslee signed the three state budgets into law.
However, he quietly vetoed bipartisan provisions to look at why housing and homelessness in Washington is so bad.
The ranking Republican on the Senate’s housing committee, state Sen. Phil Fortunato, sponsored a budget proviso in the more-than-$70 billion state operating budget that would have created a task force to study the state’s housing supply and affordability problem.
“Most of the housing policies being adopted in Olympia only make the problem worse,” said Fortunato, R-Auburn. “We aren’t building enough housing units, and the only solution from the majority is to either tax housing production or impose more regulations that make housing more expensive. My proposal would have taken a nonpartisan look at what’s driving our housing crisis.”
While hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars continue to pour into the state’s housing affordability crisis, Fortunato is expressing dismay and suspicion at the governor’s actions to kill any accountability for the state’s housing and homeless policy.
“I find the timing interesting,” said Fortunato. “Within a short period of time, we have The Seattle Times breaking stories about mismanagement at the King County Regional Homeless Authority and the director stepping down. Then, the governor is trying to cover up a bipartisan accounting of the state’s response to the housing and homeless debacle.”
In his veto message, the governor noted that the study didn’t spend enough money on the taskforce and that he didn’t want executive agency staff working on the taskforce.
“It’s a bit ironic because for years I’ve been working on a comprehensive solution on this issue that the majority Democrats have refused to hear, and now they’re actively trying to prevent the public from knowing why we’re in this situation,” added Fortunato. “Since the majority and the Governor have been doubling down on failure, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised he wanted to spend more money.”
Fortunato sponsored the American Dream Homes legislation that would reduce government-imposed costs to build smaller starter homes. It would also include tax incentives for builders and requirements on longer-term affordability.
“The state is making construction of homes unsustainably expensive. From permitting costs to other regulatory burdens like the Climate Commitment Act, government is adding tens of thousands of dollars to housing costs. This study would have uncovered what those impacts really are and saved families hundreds of dollars a month on housing,” Fortunato said.
I would like to invite you to share your thoughts at an upcoming Tax Town Hall. There will be discussion on changing the state’s tax structure to make it “more equitable.” There are various options being considered to change the tax code. One such option is to lower the sales tax or property taxes by increasing taxes on “those that can afford to pay more.”
Unfortunately, “those that can afford to pay more” can also move and take their tax dollars with them. When New Jersey increased their income tax rate, one taxpayer moved in 2015 and took his billions of dollars with him. This caused a budget shortfall of hundreds of millions of dollars. Income tax revenue is one of the most unstable revenue streams states can use for budgeting.
Another proposal would tax stock transfers and exempt retirement accounts. Connecticut has tried this. They received a windfall the first year, but saw a massive deficit the following year, counting on the new revenue. People simply stopped doing taxable transfers.
There is a bright spot. Deducting $250,000 from your property values to give some property tax relief.
Beware of the government that says they will tax the “other guy” and pass the savings on to you.
I am supposed to just listen during these town halls, and not offer my opinion. I would ask you to participate and voice yours.
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
2:30 – 4 p.m. Sign up here | 6:30 – 8 p.m. Sign up here
Learn more at: https://taxworkgroup.org/
Greetings Friends,
The Legislature adjourned Sunday evening on time. It was a 105-day whirlwind of bad bills and misplaced spending priorities for working families in Washington. Leading up the start of 2021 there was expected to be a $6 billion shortfall because of the economic effects of COVID. Not only did the shortfall never materialize, there was a surplus, in addition to federal stimulus relief funds. Did we reduce taxes to give working families a break? No.
The final budget that was adopted increases state spending by over 12% from the previous budget. I encouraged my Republican colleagues to develop our own budget to show we can fund mental health and other valuable safety-net services for vulnerable families. That budget funded the same critical investments without the billions in new taxes. In addition, it fundamentally changed how the state invests in transportation by using the existing sales tax on motor vehicles, resulting in $24 billion for infrastructure needs over the next 16 years. The opposition to the high tax and spend budget was bipartisan. The bill passed by one vote with no Republican support.
I voted against this budget which relies on another attempt to implement an unconstitutional income tax, higher fuel taxes and a convoluted cap and tax carbon pricing scheme. The people have continually voted against an income tax and a carbon tax, yet the majority party relies on those taxes to increase spending in a year when we were unexpectedly flush with tax dollars. All these policies in effect are taking food off your family’s table for special interests in Olympia.
The Lieutenant Governor sent out an adjournment press release Sunday night. In it he made the statement, “The past 105 days will shape Washington for years to come…” Boy, is he right. Washingtonians can look forward to rising costs of fuel and everything else they purchase. Increased taxes for their cell phones, new home purchases and a new income tax “on the rich.”
It started out as a billionaire tax, then multimillionaires, then millionaires. It will soon be a tax on thousandaires, aka working families.
Here is a comparison to the budget that the Senate Republican Caucus proposed and the final budget. It is a clear and stark contrast in priorities.
Throughout the session, I made principled stands and did everything I could to slow down the process and speak up for your rights. Whether it was religious freedom, your Second Amendment rights or reining in the governor’s emergency powers. I’m proud to have help found the Senate Freedom Caucus, which put an even stronger emphasis on policies eroding your personal liberties.
I will be holding a virtual town hall on May 12 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. to discuss the 2021 legislative session and answer any questions. Please register in advance for this event by clicking here.
Cap and Tax
I believe we can and should do all we can do be good stewards of our environment. For my day job, I’m a leading water quality compliance expert in our state. I know firsthand the effects humans have on our environment and the unreasonable regulations imposed on regular people that government can’t even achieve and do little for the environment while driving up costs.
The latest policy is a proposal, Senate Bill 5126, to cap carbon, price it, and sell it. When this bill first came to the Senate floor, I called it a crony capitalism shell game. You’ll be paying more for fuel and consumer goods while businesses will have to pay millions to “buy” credits, adding those costs to you, the consumer, without improving the environment. That’s not a genuine approach to protecting our environment. It’s really a way to take more money from “Main Street” and give it to Olympia special interests that stand to make millions by taking from your paychecks.
As your state Senator, I’m fighting for accountability for programs like this. If we are going to take hundreds of dollars out of your household budget to “protect the environment,” I have to be sure those goals will be achieved. Coming out of a pandemic and the related economic harm, now is not the time to be implementing costly and regressive taxes on the people of Washington.
You can watch my floor speech on it here.
The ‘Galloping Gerties’
Awards ceremony honors ‘epic fails’ of 2021 legislative session
The new income tax passed by majority Democrats in the Washington Legislature earned top honors in the first annual Galloping Gertie Awards, presented by the Senate Freedom Caucus to honor the biggest fails of the 2021 legislative session.
The awards are named for “Galloping Gertie,” the famed state-highway bridge that briefly crossed the Tacoma Narrows before it collapsed in a 1940 windstorm. A recording of the Wednesday awards ceremony can be seen on TVW, by clicking here.
Great bill titles, bad policy
Overall, there were so many bills that just ate away at your individual freedom by growing government and taking your tax dollars to pay for it. One big example is the recently passed childcare legislation, the Fair Start for Kids Act. While well intended to give parents some needed support, the fact is that it grows a bloated bureaucracy to subsidize childcare paid for with a new income tax. Why not just allow you to keep more of your money to pay for these necessities the way you want to? Instead, we have a one-size-fits-all approach that requires taxes and regulations that only make the end product more expensive and inefficient. To pay for all these supposedly great things, state government has increased the individual tax burden by 67 percent over the past four budget cycles to $7,732. That is not sustainable.
Religious Freedom
It is my honor to sponsor local religious leaders in my district to provide the opening prayer during the legislative session at the start of our day’s proceedings. We hit a roadblock when the Lieutenant Governor’s Office rejected prayers because they mentioned Jesus’ name. As it turned out, the Lt. Gov himself was unaware of this practice. I am pleased that a local pastor in our district pushed back and brought this to my attention. You can see his letter and the various opening prayers from those in our district by clicking here.
Sen. Phil Fortunato explains why the state needs to cut spending, now! Washington state’s COVID-19 response will leave the state budget in tatters come January. Hopefully leaders will do the right thing
Greetings from Olympia,
It’s been awhile since I last sent out an update but have tried to keep folks apprised of what’s happening in Olympia via my legislative Facebook. You may have noticed that in our first round of voting in the Senate, I was marked ‘excused.’ A couple of weeks back, I was admitted to the hospital with some abdominal pain. It turned out to be nothing serious, but I was out for just over a week. The good news is that I’ve been back and have hit the ground running.
Budget season
There have been a few big-ticket items that I’d like to comment on. First, we had news recently that the state revenue continues to grow. Without doing anything, revenue collections are up $1.5 billion more than anticipated. This is on top of the billion-dollar tax bill (the first bill signed into law of the 2020 session) on everything from nursing homes to health-care providers and mental-health facilities. The majorities have unveiled their budgets for this supplemental year and, unsurprisingly, every penny you send to Olympia has been spent growing government.
My colleagues and I have been pushing for tax relief, whether it’s doing the will of the people and passing my bill to give $30 car tabs, or needed property tax relief. The fact is, the state has the money but is choosing other “priorities.”
Just look at how much state spending has increased since 2013. Granted, we had some needed investments to make in education, but it’s out of control. You pay for the state budget with your taxes and the growth has outpaced any gains you or your family may have seen in wages. That’s even worse if you’re outside of King County. Something has to give.
Time for a Washington Prop 13
Some years back, taxpayers in California revolted because of their skyrocketing property taxes. We are reaching that point here. I’ve received countless emails from people around the district who can’t afford the endless property tax increases. The reality is that the Legislature cannot be trusted. I voted in support of historic education funding reform to satisfy the McCleary decision that also resulted in a property tax reduction for over 70 percent of Washingtonians. Less than a year later, the majority betrayed taxpayers and undid that work. They opened the door to steep increases in property taxes and an overreliance on local levies that create inequity in our schools. We are almost back in the same boat that got us the McCleary case to begin with.
We need and can afford property-tax relief. I’ll be pushing for legislation modeled after the California Proposition 13. It froze property tax assessments at a certain date, limited annual increases to inflation, and froze re-evalutions until after change of ownership.
Just say ‘No’ to kindergarten sex ed
I’ve received overwhelming responses from constituents opposing the bill that would mandate sex education starting in kindergarten. Let’s be clear, this is not about good-touch, bad-touch or having healthy friendships. What’s really happening is an agenda pushed by special interests to sexualize our children. Discussing and normalizing alternative lifestyles or teaching about sexual pleasure is not ‘age appropriate’ for young children. You’ve been clear, and I’m in agreement, we need to get sex entirely out of schools and get back to teaching our students how to read, write and do math. Our state has a persistent opportunity gap and introducing this new requirement will only make matters worse by taking up valuable instructional time on something that is the responsibility of parents and families.
Starving transportation
Democratic leaders on the Senate Transportation Committee unveiled their funding proposal last week to deal with what they’re calling the “I-976 crisis” and to restart delayed transportation projects.
I supported this supplemental budget, but it’s really just a Band-Aid. It is needlessly starving our state’s transportation infrastructure and fails to address long-term solutions that we need to act on now. That is being exacerbated by the ill-advised pausing of critical projects by Gov. Inslee, which has cost taxpayers untold millions of dollars. The overwhelming majority of those projects are funded by the gas tax and have nothing to do with this so-called “I-976 crisis.”
What about homeless and housing?
Last week, those of us working on housing and homelessness in the Senate Republican Caucus held a news conference to discuss what the Legislature is doing about this critical issue. We outlined where we thought we should be going at the outset of the 2020 legislative session, but with just a couple of weeks left to go, not many of those proposals made it through.
The majority is intent on continuing the same failed policies and practices of just throwing more taxpayer dollars at a broken system with no accountability.Here’s a short article on parts of the Republican proposal.We all agree that this problem needs to be addressed. We just disagree on how to get there. I’ve been vocal about my holistic plan to address this problem. To my disappointment many of these components have been simply ignored by the majority in favor of increased spending on policies that have proven they do not work.
Standing up for your rights
The Senate recently approved SB 6288, creating the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention to push unscientific ‘research’ by special interests. What’s worse, they’ll be handing out your tax dollars to nonprofits already funded by billionaires opposed to the Second Amendment.
The bill even says that as a condition of receiving those grants, organizations must include how they’d “implement evidenced-based firearm reduction.”
It’s not about research, it’s not about safety. It’s about restricting rights of law-abiding citizens and it’s unacceptable. It was even a fight to include language in the bill that directed this new state agency to look at suicide prevention, which is the largest percentage, by far, of firearm-related deaths.
It is an honor serving as your state Senator.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any concerns you have about your state government.
Sincerely,
Phil Fortunato,
Your 31st District State Senator
March 23, 2018 |
|||
|
|||
|
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
|
Greetings Friends and Neighbors,
March 12, 2018
|
||||
|
Your Second Amendment rights
Sen. Phil Fortunato, R-Auburn, issued the following statement in response to the news that the House has refused a permanent Hirst fix:
House Democrats are being led by Seattle special interests that think that city water magically appears out of pipes in the wall but rural water taken from wells is a threat to the environment. Newsflash to urban dwellers—your water comes from rural areas. The differences are that no court suddenly decided you need to pay $20,000-$30,000 to hook up to city water and unlike the majority of well-water, the city water you use doesn’t return to the aquifer from which it came.
Neither the House nor the governor showed any real interest in solving the Hirst issue. In late April, our absentee governor admitted to no real understanding of the Hirst fix. Ironically, the governor that constantly warns of global warming causing drought is aiding the court-ordered manufacturing of a water shortage. The House has been moving the goalposts up to their pre-planned press conference where they shed crocodile tears at not getting a Hirst fix they never wanted.
The governor displays a total lack of understanding of how lending works. Who in their right mind thinks that lenders will want to loan money on a property that could have water rights revoked in 24 months? House Democrats holding a two-year delay up as a solution are fooling themselves and selling out rural Washington. Unless they are willing to open up a bank to loan money on these properties, I would not call their plan a fix but a complete, predestined, purposeful failure.
Failing to fix Hirst means lower property values which means lower revenues for state and local services that House Democrats claimed to champion. But when push came to shove, they chose their special interests groups over the working men and women in the rural areas of Washington. This means up to a $200 million property tax shortfall over 4 years with the devalued properties hurting schools and local economies—and no, a bottled water tax is not going to make up the difference.
To open this session, Inslee commuted death sentences for murderers and rapists. To close the session, he is ushering in a death sentence for rural Washington. It’s a shameful slap in the face to those of us living outside urban centers.