News
STATEMENT: New state budget makes Washington less affordable, Senate Republicans say
OLYMPIA… Today’s Senate vote on a final supplemental operating budget for the 2025-27 biennium gave Senate Republican budget leaders another opportunity to express their concerns about the inability of majority Democrats to restrain government spending. Like the separate versions approved in recent days by Senate and House Democrats, the $80.1 billion budget compromise greatly outspends...
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NEWSFLASH: That’s a wrap! Session ends with a whimper — a new state income tax
On Tuesday, House Democrats passed the state income tax (Senate Bill 6346) after more than 24 hours of debate, ignoring the impact it will have on our economy and the essential fact that it is unconstitutional. They did so despite all the opposition from across the state – voters, newspaper editorial boards, minority business owners,...
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Sen. Matt Boehnke: Income tax debate and budget update from Olympia
In this week’s update, Sen. Matt Boehnke, R-Kennewick, shares the latest from Olympia as the Senate debates a proposed state income tax that has generated historic public response, with more than 100,000 people signing in CON. Boehnke outlines his concerns about how the proposal could affect families’ everyday costs, including groceries, gas, and small-business operations,...
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NEWSFLASH: Senate Democrats pass $80 billion budget – a house of cards built on phantom savings
Senate Democrats passed their $80 billion operating budget Friday — a budget that relies on: The hope that $801 million in appropriated money WON’T actually get spent $114 million in higher taxes, on top of the record $12.3 billion in state and local tax increases last year One-time money: Drains unrestricted reserves by $2.4 billion;...
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STATEMENT: Republican leaders on proposed Senate operating budget: Too much spending, wrong priorities, and unsustainable
OLYMPIA… The budget leaders for the state’s Senate Republicans offered this assessment of the supplemental 2025-27 operating budget from majority Democrats, which will have a public hearing this afternoon before the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The proposal would push state spending above the $80 billion mark for the first time and represent an 11.3%...
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ALERT: The budget shortfall was NEVER $16 billion – it’s just a Democrat talking point
No matter how many times the governor said it in his news conference and no matter how many times the press repeats Democrat talking points… The TRUE budget shortfall number was never higher than $7.5 billion. The nonpartisan legislative staff with Senate Committee Services (SCS) and the House Office of Program Research (OPR),...
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Senate Republican leaders surprised, disappointed by governor’s backing of largest tax increase in state history
OLYMPIA… Senate Republican leaders say the governor chose the wrong side today in signing a new state operating budget that relies on the largest package of tax increases in Washington history. Despite earlier denouncing new taxes that would hit the state’s working families, Gov. Bob Ferguson decided not to veto bills that will extend the...
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NEWSFLASH: Legislative Democrats ignore the advice of many and raise $12.5 billion in taxes just for the operating budget
Session ends with long debate on $77.9 billion operating budget After long and heated debate, the majority passed the 2025-27 operating budget without a single Senate Republican vote. The document, which was released Saturday for a Sunday vote, is more than 1,300 pages long and spends nearly $80 billion over the next four years....
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NEWSFLASH: No word on the budget, but plenty of taxes to go around
Silence: Still no word on budget negotiations How much will the 2025-27 operating budget increase state spending and taxes? How much will the 2025-27 operating budget increase state spending and taxes? That’s a good question. We’re not sure yet what the full scope of the budget and its taxes will be because...
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Senate Democrats approve first wave of massive tax hikes; an ‘expensive day for the taxpayers,’ say Republican budget leaders
OLYMPIA… Today the Senate majority approved a sales-tax increase that will hit lower- and middle-income families harder, a tax increase that will drive capital out of Washington, and a collection of unrelated tax increases that includes a new tax on self-storage rentals. Sen. Chris Gildon of Puyallup, Senate Republican budget leader, offered this reaction to...
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On ‘Tax Day,’ Senate Democrats propose billions more in tax increases
OLYMPIA… As Washingtonians mark Tax Day, Olympia is seeing a second wave of tax proposals from the state Senate’s majority Democrats, to go with the $21 billion in new and higher taxes wrapped into the operating-budget proposal they endorsed two weeks ago. The majority’s new tax legislation emerged today – coincidentally on the same day...
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ALERT: Democrats double down on new/higher taxes for just in time for Tax Day – What’s it going to cost you?
Addition of even MORE taxes will double what you’ll pay! In response to the record opposition to the BILLIONS in new and higher taxes Democrats plan to implement this year, they decided to DOUBLE DOWN by more than doubling the number of tax proposals. Let’s take a closer look: A new property...
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