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I am excited and relieved to report the Yakima Valley School has been saved from the chopping block! Your involvement was key to keeping this very important community asset open and serving the developmentally disabled individuals and their families across our region.
Majority party budget writers in the House and Senate have come to an agreement on the myriad of new and increased taxes, along with a few – very few – reductions to right-size state government. The bill to eliminate the Yakima Valley School was not among the cuts.
I want to thank all of you who helped with this fight. You made a difference in the lives of so many in our community.
Budget Update: Hold on to your wallets, folks!
The ruling party finally came to an agreement on the state’s two-year operating budget. I voted no. If I could have voted “Absolutely not, no way, no how, uh uh, HELL NO!” I would have. This budget contains the largest set of tax increases in state history, to the tune of $3.86 billion in 2025-2027, and $9.5 billion over the four-year outlook.
Some of the taxes include:
- Property tax increase because of a 55% increase in local school district property tax levy authority
- Business tax increases across the board including additional punitive surcharges on certain industries
- Sales tax expansion to critical business services including temporary staffing, digital services, security services, and applying tobacco taxes to certain nicotine products
- Capital gains income and death tax increases
- Tesla Tax – The majority party just couldn’t help themselves in targeting Elon Musk. This punitive excise tax on the sale or banking of zero-emission credits held by Tesla is petty and unbecoming of the Legislature
- Increasing the Discover Pass by 50%
- Hunting and Fishing licenses
This budget will spend $77.9 billion, an increase of $6 billion over current spending levels, which is an 8% INCREASE in spending! This is the fourth consecutive operating budget that spends more than expected collections. What family or business sets their budget KNOWING they won’t have the money in the long term?
A state budget is about priorities. Democrats chose to cut support for single parents, slashing aid to the aged, blind, disabled, and crime victims. Instead, they prioritized things like:
- Giving six weeks of unemployment benefits to striking workers
- Paying $154 million for non-citizen healthcare
- Giving $4 million in grants to activist groups
- Retaining DEI funding
- Funding for a study on reparations in Washington state
In the end, taxes were raised, other dedicated accounts were robbed, priorities were misplaced, and we’re almost guaranteed to be looking at another significant budget hole next biennium. The spending spree of the majority party and their inability to say no to their stakeholders continues. And all of our wallets suffer.
And let’s not forget the 6 cent gas tax increase and 12 cent diesel fuel increase. Truck weight fees, passenger car weight fees, and filing fees have all been increased. Washingtonians will pay more at the pump and the “privilege” to drive, and more for groceries and other goods as the increased trucking costs will get passed down to the consumer.
I will send out a more comprehensive email update that has more information about some of the “wins” this session and other issues you need to be aware of at a later time. But I wanted you to have this information about the Yakima Valley School and your wallets as soon as possible.
The session will end on time after 105 days. Thank you for staying involved and for reading my legislative updates.
Sincerely,
Chris Corry
