Sen. Rolfes claims smaller property tax hikes as broad-based tax relief

(The Center Square) – Sen. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, told TVW’s “Inside Olympia” Thursday she thinks the House and Senate supplemental budgets released on Monday contain broad-based tax relief because property taxes won’t increase as fast.

After referencing a Working Families Tax Credit that won’t go into effect until next year, Rolfe, chair of the Senate Ways & Means Committee, told host Austin Jenkins, “The second indirect tax break that people will see related to property taxes is that the 1% cap on revenue collected went into place this year. So, if you look at your property tax bill this year, it’s capped. So, over the last three or four years it’s been rate based. As your property value went up, your tax rate, your rate followed, so your taxes went up. So, we will be seeing that broad-based tax relief through policy that we adopted several years ago.”

Jason Mercier, director of the Center for Government Reform at the Washington Policy Center, excoriated Rolfes’ take what constitutes broad-based tax relief. He did so by referencing an episode of the animated series “The Simpsons” from 2000, “Bart to the Future,” in which Lisa Simpson is shown a vision of her future as president of the United States.

“Listening to the defense of a massive budget increase without including broad-based tax cuts reminds me of President Lisa Simpson’s temporary refund adjustment,” Mercier said in an email to The Center Square. “While reducing the size of a property tax INCREASE is to be commended, I don’t think that’s what qualifies as a broad-based tax cut in the minds of inflation hammered Washingtonians.”

Rolfes went to comment on the House budget’s inclusion of a proposed elimination of the sales tax for three days in September to help people pay for back-to-school items and other necessities.

It would create a “sales tax holiday” from Sept. 3-5 to make purchase of $1,000 or less on items such as clothing, computers, Energy Star appliances, health care equipment, over-the-counter drugs, and school supplies.

“I mean, to some extent all tax cuts are gimmicks,” she said.

Mercier responded to that as well.

“While we agree that the proposed ‘sales tax holiday’ is a political gimmick (as noted by the Tax Foundation), it is very concerning to hear the Chair of the Senate budget committee say that ALL tax cuts are a gimmick,” he said. “That belief though may explain the lack of appetite displayed so far for meaningful tax relief.”

While the House and Senate proposed supplemental budgets contain no direct broad-based tax relief, they do include increased spending over the two-year budget passed by lawmakers last April. The $65 billion House budget adds $6.2 billion in new spending, while the $63.4 billion Senate budget adds $5.8 billion in new spending.

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