Date: February 16th 2012

Night of the Living Dead by Bill Lyne www.ufwsblog.org

Death and taxes may be inevitable, but here in Washington, tax exemptions never die. There are tax breaks hanging around that are so old and so irrelevant to the well-being of the state that only a lobbyist could love them.

On February 11, the Washington State Senate took a big bipartisan step toward moving our state out of Zombie Land. SB 6088, introduced by Senator Craig Pridemore, requires that every new tax break have a clear statement of what policy goal the exemption is trying to achieve and a shelf life of five years. The bill passed the senate with 45 yeas, 3 nays, and 1 excused. It’s not every day that a bill with the word “tax” in it passes by a margin that not even Tim Eyman could deny. It should sail through the house. It’s hard to argue against the idea that tax breaks should provide some benefit to the state and that they ought to be regularly reviewed to make sure that they’re still providing those benefits.

But if you want to hear some of those arguments, tune in for the debate on HB 2762. Representative Reuven Carlyle introduced this bill on February 2. It was referred to the Ways and Means Committee and has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. Here at the blog, we desperately hope the HB 2762 hearing happens because we want the bill to pass, and it’s always fun to watch people who argued for something on Tuesday argue against the same thing on Wednesday.

HB 2762 does the same thing that SB 6088 does, only it does it for existing tax breaks, not just those that are currently only gleams in lobbyists eyes. SB 6088 prevents the birth of new zombies, HB 2762 drives stakes through the hearts of the living dead currently walking among us. It allows the legislature to regularly consider the efficacy of tax exemptions and get rid of those that benefit only the exemptees and not the state of Washington. It puts expiration dates from 2017 to 2025 on all existing tax exemptions, meaning that the legislature will have to reconsider the benefit those breaks bring to the state and act affirmatively if it still seems like a good idea to continue those breaks.

Last week that idea was so good that over ninety percent of the state senate voted for it. No one’s going to change their mind just because now we’re talking about tax exemptions that actually exist. Right?

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