Gregoire: Raise taxes on bottled water, pop, cigs

Full post at: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/seattlepolitics/archives/194909.asp

Gregoire: Raise taxes on bottled water, pop, cigs Higher taxes on things like bottled water, pop, cigarettes and candy are part of Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to raise more than $600 million to help avoid large cuts to education and social services.

Gregoire: Raise taxes on bottled water, pop, cigs


Higher taxes on things like bottled water, pop, cigarettes and candy are part of Gov. Chris Gregoire's proposal to raise more than $600 million to help avoid large cuts to education and social services.

Gregoire's plan, which also includes closing some tax loopholes, was released Wednesday.


The plan contains $493 million in tax increases, including a hike on the tax rate on oil products and other pollutants from 0.7 to 2 percent. That would generate about $148 million for state programs, according to Gregoire.

The governor also wants:


· An excise tax on bottled water: This would be a tax of 1 cent per ounce. It would raise $134.7 million this budget period, the governor says.

· Excise tax on carbonated beverages: A tax of 5 cents per 12 ounces to raise $93.6 million through July of 2011.

· Increase on cigarette and tobacco taxes: This would raise $88.8 million through this budget period. It includes raising the taxes on cigarettes by a buck a pack to $3.025.


· Sales tax on candy and gum: Most food products are exempt from the state's sales tax. This proposal would introduce such a levy on candy and gum to raise $28 million through next year.

The state's operating budget deficit is $2.8 billion - meaning that even if Gregoire's tax plans were approved about a billion in cuts will have to be made. Washington is hoping for hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money to help balance its books.

Advocates for the state's needy praised the governor, but said the tax increase proposal needed to be bigger.


"The choice we face as a state is clear, either state will raise significant new revenue or we will face devastating cuts to the services that support our quality of life," said Sandeep Kaushik, spokesman for the Rebuilding our Economic Future Coalition. "Gov. Gregoire made it clear today that she understands that working families across the state are hurting and the state needs to act quickly and decisively to pass a revenue package."


To make it easier to raise taxes majority Democrats are working to suspend a citizen initiative that requires a two-thirds legislative vote. The House is expected to approve a bill suspending Initiative 960 late Wednesday night. The Senate has already OK'd the measure. Republicans have strongly opposed attempts to suspend I-960.

There are Democrats in the House who propose going in farther than Gregoire; some have advocated an across-the-board sales tax increase.


"This isn't just 'a day late and a dollar short' – it's a year late and several hundred million dollars short. We must find more revenue to avoid an even more apocalyptic budget crisis in 2011," Rep. Brendan Williams, D-Olympia, said in a statement.