The movement to reduce property taxes is gaining more attention as the Washington State Tax Structure Work Group continues to hold regional virtual town hall meetings across the state.  The legislative proposals (SB 5463 and HB 1579) gaining traction come from Senator Lynda Wilson (R – Vancouver) and Representative Ed Orcutt (R – Kalama) and would exempt the first $250,000 of the property’s value in determining the state’s portion of the annual tax.  It would reduce most homeowner’s tax by 50% and eliminate the state portion of the tax for properties under $250,000.  With the state’s revenue projections revealing a $6 billion surplus – thanks to multiple Democrat tax increases in recent years – this proposal would ensure taxpayers, not just liberal special interest groups, receive some of the benefits.

The eight legislators who comprise the Tax Structure Work Group continue to hold weekly virtual “Tax Town Halls” for different regions of the state.  Tonight at 6:30  the Work Group will be listening to residents who live in the “West Region” including Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, Kitsap, and Thurston counties, and the Southern section of Pierce County (2^nd Legislative District). Click on this link if you would like to participate.  Here are some additional ideas to consider if you would like to present your views to the Work Group. (Centralia Chronicle, Washington State Legislature Bill Summary, News Tribune, Tax Structure Work Group, and Washington Policy Center)

Attorney General Bob Ferguson attempted to clean up the damage previously committed by Governor Inslee, when the AG recognized that Fawn Sharp was re-elected president of the National Congress of American Indians.  If you recall, when Governor Inslee was asked about the severe criticism he received from tribal leaders including President Sharp (who said she agreed with President Trump when he labeled Governor Inslee “a snake”) for his line-item veto of a section in the Cap-and-Trade bill, the governor gave the sexist reply that Sharp “is not a real tribal chair.” We are not certain of the motives behind Ferguson congratulatory message to President Sharp.  He could be attempting to clean up the mess created by the governor, or he just wants to make sure the tribes keep pouring money into his campaign coffers ($3 million+ and growing).  (Bob Ferguson Twitter and KNKX)

The grassroots movement against the liberals’ desire to impose state and local income taxes continues to grow, as the City of DuPont (Pierce County) just became the 8^th Washington State city to ban such taxes as sources of revenue.  The measure passed by the DuPont City Council read, “Such a tax would be in direct conflict with the high value the City places on promoting economic development through the attraction and expansion of financially healthy, family wage paying employers.”  DuPont joins the cities of Battle Ground, Granger, Kennewick, Moses Lake, Spokane, Spokane Valley, and Union Gap, along with Yakima County, to ban a local income tax.  (Washington Policy Center)

Mariya Frost of the Washington Policy Center highlights in a five-tweet post the never-ending anxiety which many people are experiencing during the pandemic.  Frost states, “Though medicine is here, gov’t is more heavy-handed & invasive than ever.” Frost, whose perspective is sharpened by the fact her family escaped communist authoritarianism to come to the United States, concludes that Governor Inslee’s undemocratic use of emergency orders “is absolutely detrimental to mental health and has to stop.” (Mariya Frost Twitter)

The Seattle Times continues to help King County liberals place another Seattle-centric voice on the already Seattle-focused King County Council, with its continuous front-page coverage over the controversary the paper started involving a mailer sent by Councilmember Kathy Lambert’s campaign.  For nearly a week, a piece of campaign mail has been headline news for a paper that generally does not pay any attention to Eastside politics, even after Councilmember Lambert apologize for any offense her campaign unintentionally committed.  Lambert is in a tight race against a candidate who holds the same liberal views (i.e. waste more money on failed homelessness policies, make it more difficult for police to do their job, waste more money on expensive climate proposals that drastically fail to achieve the stated goals, give more money to liberal special interest groups, continue to grow the size of government, etc.) that a majority of the Seattle-focused councilmembers already support.

Compare the Times coverage on this matter to their coverage of the incredibly sexist comment Democrat Governor Inslee made about the President Fawn Sharp of the National Congress of American Indians, when he said “she is not a real chief,” despite her national office and her previous tenure as the president of the Quinault Indian Nation.  The sexist comment isn’t even mentioned in a long story over the controversary between the tribes and the governor.  And we are still waiting for the Times to even mention the controversary which made national news involving Democrat Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal,  when 18 current and former staff members committed the incredibly rare act of going to the media to complain about the “hostile work environment” Representative Jayapal had created in her congressional office.

It’s ironic that the Washington State Democrats, who have been hit with repeated accusations of racism now thinks they are “holier than thou,” as they seek to fundraise off the controversary on the King County Council. We suppose this is a good distraction from the fact that the Democrats’ Chair is sending out tweets in support of a candidate (Nicole Thomas Kennedy) who calls arsonists “Heroes” and tells police to “eat COVID lace sh*t.”  (Seattle Times, KNKX, Buzzfeed, Crosscut, Washington Democrat State Party fundraising email, and Shift)

While the liberals on the King County Council continue to play partisan games and use taxpayer dollars to try to add another Democrat to the council, a new report shows that fatal and injury shootings in the county during the first nine months of 2021 have already exceeded the figures for all of 2020.  While the council spends time debating a partisan point of view on race, crime figures show that the Democrats’ soft-on-crime policies have resulted in illegal activities which negatively impact people of color the most. But, the mailer! (Seattle Times)

The residents of Point Roberts, Washington are finally seeing the end of their isolation, as the Biden Administration has given into pressure (if not any science) and announced it will open the nation’s land borders to nonessential travel for vaccinated individuals in early November.  Point Roberts (population 5,436) sits at the end of a peninsula just south of the 49^th parallel, connected by land only to Canada, and has experienced severe economic difficulties due to its border being closed to Canadian travelers. The opening of all land borders with Canada and Mexico comes after months of the Biden Administration ignoring “repeated appeals from the governor (Inslee)” to implement a “targeted exception for the Point Roberts.”  Ironically, President Biden ignored Governor Inslee’s request the same way the governor has repeatedly ignored appeals from local officials from throughout Washington. No word if Biden was also like the Inslee Administration, which often fails to even acknowledge it has received letters and phone calls from local officials, in his dismissive dealings with his former presidential “rival”. (Associated Press, Bellingham Herald/MSN, and Governor Inslee’s media release)

In Yesterday in Shift’s “Overheard on the Internets” section we featured a tweet honoring those in the agriculture community on National Farmer’s Day.  A couple of our loyal Eastern Washington readers pointed out that that Governor Inslee was not among the many governors who recognized the day and the hard work done by those who provide the food for our families.  Governor Inslee often tweets recognition of groups on annual days honoring them.  Apparently farmers have not made the list of groups his office believes to be worth a virtual-signaling tweet. (WPCAg Twitter and Governor Inslee Twitter Account)

The immunization rate for H-2A  farmworkers is over 95% in Washington State.  A spokesperson for the Washington Farm Labor Association says this success is due to being transparent with the farmworkers. “What we do with the H-2A workers is, when we’re recruiting them in Mexico, we make sure that they know that the expectation is that they’re going to be tested as soon as they get there. And then, if they test negative, then they’re going to be vaccinated and if they’re not okay with that, this is not a job that they should be applying for.” (Pacific Northwest AG Network)

Spokane City Council Candidate Zack Zappone openly flaunted breaking Washington State laws as he was campaigning in August.  The candidate live streamed himself on Facebook as he was riding his bike (even with no hands on the handlebars) on busy Spokane streets.  Just as Democrat Senator Rebecca Saldana was breaking state laws for distracted driving when she provided testimony in a legislative hearing while driving a car, Zappone was also illegally operating a vehicle while distracted.  Zappone has campaigned on the extreme platform of “defunding the police”, so perhaps being distracted is a plus. He is also endorsed by the Washington State Democrat Party whose Chair has been supporting the ultra-extreme Nicole Thomas Kennedy for Seattle City Attorney (i.e. the candidate who called arsonists “Heroes” and said police “should eat COVID-laced sh*t & quit ur job”). Breaking state laws and being associated with radical Seattle activists probably isn’t the best way to win an election in Spokane. (Click to read full Shift Article)

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