$20B proposed tax hike is a top topic for legislators at 12th District town hall meeting

12th District State Legislators, Rep. Brian Burnett, left, Sen. Keith Goehner and Rep. Mike Steele, ahead of a virtual town hall meeting held March 20.

Sen. Keith Goehner, R-Dryden, Rep. Mike Steele, R-Chelan, and Rep. Brian Burnett, R-Wenatchee, offered reaction to the $20 billion, four-year tax package proposed by the Senate’s majority Democrats, during a 12th District virtual town hall meeting Thursday night.

Senate Democrats are pushing to eliminate the 1% cap on property tax increases, tying them to inflation instead. This could mean unpredictable hikes of 2%, 3%, or even more each year.

"To even fathom that the state would be contemplating taking a cap off which protects those private property owners; I think it's an incredibly regressive tax," said Rep. Steele when discussing the Democrat plan to ditch the annual 1% property tax increase limit imposed by the people.

"The reality is that a million here and a million there, all of those commitments add up," said Sen. Goehner during the town hall. "We really do need to re-examine our priorities of government."

"It's a multitude of bills that are coming in that are increasing fees," noted Rep. Brian Burnett. "We had an executive session just for the liquor license fee increase, and that's a 50% increase. Discovery Pass increase from $30 to $45. We just see them tagging that on to everything."

“My first reaction was wow – this is a new kind of March madness, especially the new attempt to do away with the 1% cap voters put on property-tax growth," Sen. Chris Gildon, Senate Republican budget leader, said. "We keep hearing from Senate Democrats that they want to make the wealthiest Washingtonians pay more. But the property-tax increase they want is regressive. It would fall directly on the backs of families who are far from wealthy and also become a pass-through cost to renters across our state. To me that’s talking out of both sides of your mouth."

"Senate Republicans have proven we can have a balanced budget without a single tax increase or a single service cut. Our $ave Washington approach is a better way to support the priorities we all share, including full funding for K-12 and services for our most vulnerable neighbors, without asking working families to pay more.” added Gildon.

A Chelan resident asked the 12th District Legislators during the town hall about the ability for the state to afford a permanent repair to the perpetual rock slide area that has closed South Lake Shore Road, west of Chelan.

"We are woefully behind on simple maintenance and preservation and I would argue that (State Route) 971 falls into that," lamented Rep. Steele. "Even more unfortunate is in the last transportation (budget) package that we passed, very little went to the east side of the mountains. I like to make the quip that we have roads too in Eastern Washington."

"80% of roads and bridges are either due or past due for restoration projects," Rep. Burnett added when sharing what he learned at a recent Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) meeting.

Receive real-time updates from WSDOT on the South Lake Shore road closure here.