Far-left steps up desperate search for budget victory

The far-left suffered a major loss when Jay Inslee and state House Democrats announced that they would finally accept reality and take a state capital gains income tax off the budget negotiating table. So much so, that many on the far-left are not quite ready to accept the truth of the situation and move on. Instead, groups like Fuse Washington are left grasping for a tax it can declare victory on. The tax of choice happens to be ending a tax incentive for recycled fuel, a plan they (along with Democrats) hope will appease their extreme environmental donors.

Fuse states the following in a recent email to supporters,

“Governor Jay Inslee, a majority in our state House, and all 23 Senate Democrats are united and ready to pass a budget that helps fund schools by closing the infamous Big Oil tax loophole…

“We need just two Republicans to step up and put the people of Washington before political ambition or party ideology. House leaders have already met them more than halfway, and now we need to turn up the heat for them to do their part. Tell the Senate Republicans to close the Big Oil tax loophole and come together to avoid a government shutdown!”

As Shift recently reported, eliminating the “Big Oil tax loophole” in question would make Washington the only state in the country that would put a tax on oil refineries using their own waste product to generate energy. In other words, ending this so-called tax loophole would tax refineries for recycling their own fuel. You can learn more of why that’s a terrible idea—one that would, ironically, do more harm to the environment than good—here.

Fuse goes on to absurdly state, “House leaders have already done more than their fair share by moving 77 percent of the way toward the GOP position. On the flip side, the Senate Republicans have only compromised from their original position by an insulting 2 percent.”

Let’s be clear, state House Democrats presented an unbalanced budget riddled with significant flaws—including an unconstitutional tax—that would have unsustainably increased the size of government. Democrats refused to even vote on the tax hikes they proposed. On the other hand, state Senate Republicans produced a balanced budget that met all the state’s funding obligations without raising tax a dime.

It is, simply put, ridiculous to compare the two. It’s not surprising Democrats had so much ground to give, they’re entire budget was comprised of elements which they knew could not possibly pass. Perhaps, rather than make absurd comparisons, Fuse would be better off asking why House Democrats wasted taxpayers’ time and money presenting an utterly worthless budget—a budget so worthless that Democrats did not even bother passing part of it in their own caucus.