Tag Archives: Sen. Mark Schoesler

Schoesler: November revenue forecast shows B&O tax hike isn’t needed

Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, says the latest state revenue forecast shows that the Legislature should roll back the huge business-and-occupation tax increase that it imposed on certain services earlier this year.

The fourth-quarter revenue forecast, released today, shows an increase of $299 million over the third-quarter forecast from September. Combined with the June and September forecasts, revenues for the 2019-21 biennium are now projected to be $850 million higher than what was forecasted when the Legislature adjourned in April. The 20 percent B&O tax increase imposed by the Legislature’s majority party on providers of professional services is expected to raise $380 million in the current biennium.

“We said all along that tax hikes weren’t necessary, but the governor and his allies in the majority apparently felt our Main Street employers were undertaxed, and they went ahead with this huge increase,” said Schoesler, who is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee. “I think the Legislature needs to acknowledge that there is already plenty of revenue coming in, and realize it’s time to listen to the taxpayers and rescind the B&O tax hike.”

The November forecast also shows a 2019-21 revenue projection of $51.7 billion. The ending-fund reserves for the current biennium total $3.5 billion, including $2.2 billion in the constitutionally protected rainy-day fund and $1.3 billion in unrestricted reserves.

“The state has plenty of money in reserve now. We can afford to give some of that extra money back to the taxpayers while still keeping a healthy budget reserve in case of an economic downturn in the future,” added Schoesler.

Schoesler applauds loan to Basin City water district

State Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, is pleased that a Franklin County community will soon be able to complete an important water project.

The state Public Works Board is awarding a $495,000 loan to the Basin City Water and Sewer District, which will use the loan to complete a project in which flow meters will be installed for residents and businesses within the district.

“This is great news,” said Schoesler. “The new flow meters being installed in Basin City will allow people there to save water, which is not only good resource management, but will save taxpayers money.”

According to Basin City Water and Sewer District Commissioner Dan Winder, the loan will allow the district to complete the project to install flow meters. The project is expected to start in late October or early November and end in January 2020.

Schoesler represents the 9^th Legislative District, which covers all or part of Adams, Asotin, Franklin, Garfield, Spokane and Whitman counties.

Schoesler introduces bill banning Seattle-style ‘jobs tax’ proposal statewide

As he promised last year, Senate Republican Leader Mark Schoesler has introduced a bill that would impose a statewide ban on future jobs-tax legislation similar to the so-called “head tax” that was approved, then repealed, by the Seattle City Council in mid-2018.

Schoesler’s proposal, Senate Bill 5589, would prohibit local taxes based on employee wages, employee hours or the number of employment positions.

“Let’s remember that although the Seattle jobs tax was repealed within a month of becoming law, that wasn’t due to concerns about the tax’s illegality, or a realization that it was the wrong way to address the city’s lack of affordable housing. The council reversed course after it became clear voters would likely reject it through a referendum,” said Schoesler, R-Ritzville.

“This bill is needed because if Seattle erroneously thought it had the authority to impose a jobs tax, another city might try to go that route too. That would have a negative effect on working families and that community’s economy because it tells employers that their business is not appreciated.

“My bill will make it clear that any future taxing of jobs will be illegal,” added Schoesler. “It’s wrong for any city in Washington to undermine the jobs that working families depend on simply because of political ideology and a thirst for more revenue. And if cities want the Legislature’s help addressing the lack of affordable housing, they should support the package of Senate Republican legislation that gets at the fundamental question of supply and demand.”

The bipartisan bill has been sent to the Senate Local Government Committee for consideration.

Schoesler says Senate budget proposal’s no-new-taxes approach is best

Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler offered this statement about the supplemental operating budget proposed today by the Senate. The update would increase state spending in the 2015-17 operating budget by a modest $49 million.

“Governor Inslee wants to raise taxes and raid the state’s rainy-day fund. The Democrats who control the House of Representatives want to raise taxes and raid the state’s rainy-day fund. Only the Senate’s budget avoids tax increases and protects the rainy-day fund. That is a top priority for our Majority Coalition Caucus, and the plan we put on the table today continues to build on the remarkable record of results we have achieved in four years of leading the Senate.

“The MCC has again shown it is possible to provide for education and state government’s other priorities without outspending the available revenue. By continuing to keep tax rates stable for families and employers, we encourage job growth in all corners of the state, not just the Puget Sound area, which puts Washington in the best position to continue recovering from the Great Recession.

“A supplemental budget is supposed to make adjustments in response to emerging needs and caseload shifts and one-time opportunities that could not have been foreseen when the two-year budget was approved. The governor and House leaders are wrong to use their budget proposals as a way to go after families and employers for more tax dollars and raid the rainy-day fund to support new spending.

“It is disappointing that the House’s budget proposal also takes aim at the Washington-only law requiring the two-year budget to balance across four years, not just two. This unique policy has brought stability by forcing budget writers to account for the long-term effects of their decisions – meaning beyond the next election. The House’s chief budget writer supported the creation of that law in 2012, before he started wearing that hat. Now he refers to the law as ‘voodoo economics’ and wants to kneecap it while using a half-dozen tax increases to balance the House budget proposal. They include a bottled-water tax that was already rejected by voters and a sales-tax increase that would devastate retailers in our border counties, in legislative districts served primarily by Republicans.

“This legislative session is scheduled to end two weeks from tomorrow; let’s work toward a budget agreement that is an update, not a rewrite, without the empty posturing about new taxes that dragged the Legislature through three overtimes this past year.”

Schoesler is a member of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which is holding a public hearing on the Senate’s supplemental operating-budget and capital-budget proposals today; it may be viewed online at www.TVW.org.

Governor should prioritize kids over fish

Additional funds for fish passage barriers should pay for better highway safety in Eastern Washington

The citizens of Whitman County and the parents of students at Washington State University’s Pullman campus aren’t happy, and why would they be? They are still mourning the two students who died in car crashes over Thanksgiving break on the highways that feed into Pullman. They want safer highways, and they want them soon.

The comprehensive transportation package passed during the 2015 legislative session allocates money to improve State Route 26 and U.S. Highway 195. Four repaving projects are almost complete, and passing lane construction on U.S. 195 will begin in 2017. But the passing lanes S.R. 26 aren’t projected to begin until 2025.

Almost 6,000 people have signed an online petition in an effort to make highway safety in that area a bigger priority and bump up the timeline for those improvements. Senate Majority Leader Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, believes this is possible, especially in light of Gov. Jay Inslee’s recent supplemental budget plan calls for $113 million of additional funding for fish passage barrier removal.

“We already allocated 300 million dollars in the current budget for fish culverts. Any additional funds need to be prioritized towards saving kids’ lives on a dangerous stretch of eastern Washington freeway. We are investing millions in the highways leading to the University of Washington. Governor Inslee should value Cougars as much as Huskies – and the safety of students more than fish.”

“If that money goes toward anything in Washington, it should go toward making it safer for our kids to drive our highways,” says Schoesler.

In 2013, Inslee supported a transportation package that made no provision whatsoever for improvements to S.R. 26 and U.S. 195. By contrast, the package passed in 2015 was a bipartisan effort led by the Senate and is far more comprehensive than the governor’s initial plan.

“We wanted a plan that would serve the east side of the state as well as the west side. The governor’s transportation package prioritized the west side. We worked for a plan that made all of Washington a priority,” says Schoesler.