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With a 1.5 Billion dollar deficit, Washington state is forced to make budget cuts. Of the most concerning are to education and social services. To combat this Governor Chris Gregoire is proposing a .5 cent raise in Washington’s sales tax. It would last three years (huh?) ,raise $494 million and be used to fund public education predominately. If passed Washington state would have a sales tax second to only California. This would increase Washington’s sales tax from 7% to 7.5%.

Interesting to note just last year a Tim Eyman initiative was passed that requires a two-thirds super-majority in the Legislature to raise taxes.

An estimated 1 thousand protestors rallied at Washington’s Capital

In the interest of not raising an already high cost of living in Washington, citizens rallied in protest. The occasion? The Legislature’s emergency budget session. Teachers, students, state employees, and the always vigilant Occupy protesters gathered this morning in Sylvester Park to let their voices be heard. The predominate message was “Tax the 1%, not the 99%”. There were also protests against cutting social services which were being discussed as well, in this morning’s session.

How do the majority of Voters feel about Proposal?

According to a new Elway Poll release Monday 45% of voters think raising taxes is a good idea. Most voters in Washington according the survey support or will most likely support the .5 cent sales tax increase. According to the Elway poll Washington voters are very divided on the issue of raising taxes versus cutting spending. 41% of voters support cutting spending over raising taxes and 39% are for raising taxes to avoid cuts in programs.

In reality doesn’t it all depend on what the proposed cuts are?  If they were proposing to cut campaign finance the percentages would be completely different versus proposing to cut say.. Medicaid. Case in point, voters who participated in the poll supported raising taxes to save the programs Gregoire is wanting to cut. So it is clear that voters in Washington would rather raise their cost of living then have funding cut in education and other social service type programs. Either way, once again it is the poor and middle class that will have to suffer. Why is our government allowed to pick and choose the programs that are placed on the chopping block. Doesn’t the game seem a little rigged. What programs do you think should be cut out of our budget?

Participate in the discussion. Let your voice be heard!