Democrat greed = tax increases

Democrats and their allies in the labor-electoral complex like to complain about “the rich” and the “1 percent”, but it seems they have a greed problem of their own.  It’s not that they necessarily advocate becoming personally rich, although some very-profile Democrats (Bill Clinton and Al Gore come to mind) have become very wealthy once they left public office.  It is that they have an insatiable appetite for larger amounts of public money to feed their political political base.

There’s a certain logic here.  The interest groups that help elect Democrats tend to benefit most from rising public spending, so the Party of Government tries to deliver ever-rising public spending in order to hang on to power.  Public sector unions are Exhibit A in the elect-you-pay-me scheme, as former New York City Mayor Bloomberg highlighted in his last public speech.

Here in Washington State it doesn’t take much digging to uncover the Democrats OPM (Other People’s Money) addiction. The pattern is revealed quite prominently in the series of tax increases proposed in recent years by prominent Washington Democrats.

• In 2013, just-elected Governor Inslee proposed $1.2 billion in new taxes in his first budget proposal, including canceling a promise to let a “temporary” B&O tax expire.
• The state’s top public schools official, Democrat Randy Dorn, wants to raise the sales tax, the state property tax and other levies, “for the children,” the same well-worn education message his party has been mouthing for over 30 years – all while legislative Democrats have been spending a smaller share of ever-expanding state budgets on our public schools.
• King County Executive Dow Constantine is proposing an April vote to raise the sales tax and impose a higher Motor Vehicle Excise Tax (MVET) tax each year on every car, truck, trailer and RV in the county.  And just to goose revenue a little more, Constantine wants to use an inflated value scheme to impose the tax, instead of using your car’s true fair market value.
• And in a perennial favorite for Democrats, veteran liberal legislator Marko Liias (D-Mukilteo) has introduced a bill to impose a state income tax.  The Liias bill can best be described as an example of not listening.  Washington voters soundly defeated an income tax initiative in 2010, rejecting it 64% to 36%.  Apparently Mr. Liias has been too busy preparing his move from the State House to the Senate to hear the voters.

The Democrats’ income tax bill has no chance of passage this year.  Speaker Frank Chopp (D- Seattle) might get it through the House, but the bi-partisan Majority Caucus Coalition would certainly kill it in the Senate.

Even so, pushing though a state income tax remains the holy grail for liberal Democrats and their labor allies, and they are not going to give it up.  In the meantime, expect more tax-increase initiatives from powerful elected Democrats, because getting control over more of people’s money is just their kind of greed.