The Washington State Department of Revenue (DOR) launched a capital gains tax collection website where state residents can pay their unconstitutional tax.  Last March, the Douglas County Superior Court used a century of legal precedent to rule that the Democrats’ state income tax on capital gains was unconstitutional. Democrat Attorney General Bob Ferguson conveniently waited until after the November elections before convincing the Washington State Supreme Court to “stay” the Douglas County Court’s ruling and allow the DOR to proceed with plans for collecting the tax, while the state’s highest court rules on an appeal of the Douglas court’s decision (arguments were heard on that appeal in late January).

Thus, those who are eligible will be forced to pay the tax this April 18^th, whether or not the State Supremes have ruled on the Douglas County judge’s ruling.  In the announcement of the website’s launch, the DOR does say, “If the Washington Supreme Court finds that capital gains tax to be unconstitutional, any tax payments received will be promptly refunded with interest.” (Department of Revenue release, MyNorthwest, Seattle Times, and Q13 Fox News)

A bill sponsored by Senator Curtis King would break the monopoly on sports betting which Democrats have given tribal casinos currently in Washington State.  The legislation (SB 5587) would expand sports betting (on professional and college games) to non-tribal card rooms and racetracks.  In 2021, the Democrat-controlled legislature made sports betting legal in Washington State and gave tribal governments a monopoly on this very popular and lucrative form of gambling.

Senator King argued, “Private cardrooms and racetracks in our state should have the same opportunity to offer sports wagering as Washington’s tribal casinos. This is an issue of fairness and equity. Washington state is walking away from millions of dollars in tax revenue by not allowing sports wagering at these private establishments.”  (Q13 Fox News and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

In Danny Westneat’s latest Seattle Times column on the destruction liberal policies continue to bring to Downtown Seattle, he described how once again big government liberal politicians may benefit from their failed efforts.  After the in-over-their-heads radicals on the Seattle City Council very noisily passed taxes and laws which made Downtown less attractive to live, work, and shop over the last few years, office vacancy rates are currently 56% lower than they were in 2019.  The once-vibrant retail core is now similar to those in other liberal West Coast cities such as San Francisco and Portland, with bordered-up windows, out-of-control crime, and near empty sidewalks.

One of the suggestions being floated is for the City of Seattle to purchase empty office space and become a large landlord. This idea obviously appeals to big-government liberals who want politicians to control more aspects of our community and our lives.  If the city decides this is the path to take, the Democrats will be able to grow a large, inefficient bureaucracy of city workers to direct the purchase and leasing of office spaces and hand out favorable lease agreements to their friends in community activist groups, labor unions, and wealthy urban environmental organizations.  And since all of this will cost money and because these new liberal tenants will create less tax revenue than the previous business occupants, this will force the city to raise taxes on the remaining businesses and property owners. That’s a liberal virtuous circle. (Seattle Times)

The Bellevue School District continues to promote its divisive “woke’ education policies despite its enrollment dropping 10%. The loss of over 2,000 students in the past three years caused the district last week to announce the closure of three public schools, with more closures soon to follow.  Jason Rantz of KTTH reported that Sammamish High School teachers went through another round of diversity training last week where white teachers were told they were racist and that they cannot promote that they are in charge of the classroom for that “reinforced white supremacy as a white teacher is the authority figure.”

This is among the many examples of the school district being more concerned about spreading liberal political beliefs than in actually educating students and why parents with financial resources are pulling their students out of public schools.  The school district’s enrollment not only dropped 10% since 2019 (while the city’s population grew from 149,000 to 158,000), but it expects enrollment to drop by an additional 3,000 in the next decade (while the population grows by an additional 25,000 residents).  This is why the state’s public-school establishment (which is led by the state’s teachers’ unions) strongly opposes giving parents the ability to determine where their children are educated through School Choice programs. These policies would assign state/federal funds that currently go to school districts (more than $10,000 per student) and assign the money to parents to decide where their children are educated. (MyNorthwest, KUOW, and Population Review website)

Local shoppers are seeing an increase in the number of items locked in display cases as liberal inflationary policies and anti-police measures have resulted in more merchandise being stolen.  Grocery stores, who operate on very small profit margins, are forced to lock up more items due to the increase in retail theft.  Officials with both Walmart and Target stated that they may be forced to close stores due to retail theft and that locked cases are a last-ditch attempt to curb the loss of revenue due to criminal activity. (MyNorthwest)

More than 2,000 people signed in to testify on the compromise agriculture overtime legislation which will allow small family farms to continue to operate and allow more farm workers to collect larger paychecks during harvest season.  Urban Democrats passed legislation in 2021 reducing the minimum number of hours worked before a farm employee received overtime wages from 55 last year, 48 hours this year, and 40 in 2024.  Small farms are concerned they won’t be able to stay in business due to higher employee costs and farm workers are fearful that they will have their hours cut and thus receive smaller paychecks during harvest.

Senator Curtis King sponsored compromise legislation (SB 5476) which allows farmers to select 12 weeks per year (likely during planting and harvesting) where workers would receive overtime wages after working 50 hours in the week. Farm workers testified in support of this legislation for it allows them to keep collecting larger paychecks during harvest. (KPQ Radio and Washington Legislature Bill Summary)

The City of Yakima continues to push to be considered as a site for a new regional airport, which will relieve traffic at SeaTac Airport.  The Washington State Commercial Aviation Coordinating Commission (CACC) identified three rural locations just on the other side of the Cascade Mountains in Eastern Pierce and Thurston Counties as places where further information should be gathered.  Yet strong local opposition has been organized at each of those sites, making them less attractive to the CACC.  The commission also called for more information on expanding Paine Field in Everett, but opposition is growing there as well.

Supporters for a Yakima airport (which would expand McAllister Field) stated that a recent online poll of 1,400 residents showed that 83% welcomed the idea of constructing a large airport in their community.  Rail to the West side of the mountains is part of the plan proposed by the City of Yakima. (YakTriNews)

Shift’s Newsmaker Interview was with Republican Representative Eric Robertson of Sumner, who previously served as an officer in the Washington State Patrol and was appointed U.S. Marshall for Western Washington by President George W. Bush. He previously served in the Washington State Legislature for two terms in the 1990s and returned to the House of Representatives in 2021.  He is a father of five and enjoys being with his nine grandchildren.

Representative Robertson is a legislative leader among those seeking to restore common sense to our state’s public safety policies after the Democrats passed their anti-police measures in 2021.  He is the co-sponsor of the bi-partisan HB 1363 to repeal the disastrous restrictions the Democrats imposed on police pursuits.  The representative discussed in his interview several bills aimed to make our communities safer. He also shared his thoughts on Republican-sponsored legislation to financially support more educational options which will provide flexibility in meeting student needs.

Representative Robertson also shared his thoughts on taxing cannabis products, providing tax relief to lower- and middle- income workers, and repealing the Democrats’ poorly developed Long Term Care tax/plan. (Click to read full Newsmaker Interview)

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