Democrat politicians rely on John Burbank, and his labor-funded Economic Opportunity Institute, for their positions on economic matters. Ideas like establishing state income tax, which is in the State Democrat platform.
Of course, when John Burbank actually ran for state representative as a Democrat, he was crushed by the voters. And, when he sponsored the initiative to tax espresso drinks in the city of Seattle in 2003, his idea was crushed by the voters.
But Mr. Burbank is persistent, thanks to the support he receives from labor unions to keep churning out his “the answer to every question is to raise taxes” position papers. In his most recent column, he rails against the fact that Steve Ballmer has made more money than him.
Being consistent with liberals across Seattle, Mr. Burbank’s answer is to raise taxes on Steve Ballmer, but not on himself. For the Democrats (and socialists like Kshama Sawant) who agree with Burbank, that will solve all that ails our state, though it seems like perhaps Mr. Ballmer should be rewarded, instead of penalized, for having a more positive impact on the Puget Sound economy over his 30+ years at Microsoft than Mr. Burbank has had is his many years of writing about raising taxes.
Burbank’s column contains far too many loony ideas to repeat in full, but suffice to say he does not find fault with the Democrats who have been running the state for the last 30 years with underfunding our public education system for a generation or doubling college tuition in recent years.
No, to the Burbanks of the world, the fault doesn’t belong to the Democrat politicians who have made the decision to underfund public schools or raise college tuition. The fault lies with Steve Ballmer for not paying more taxes than he already does.
That’s the type of clear thinking that that Burbank’s Democrat “think tank” brings to the public discussion. Is it any wonder even voters in Seattle rejected him?
