Legislators must cut and reform first, then discuss a tax hike
DEMOCRATS in Olympia are talking of taxes. There will be a time for that, and there should be, but it is not now.
Two things must be done first. One is to write a no-new-taxes budget that legislators can live with. In this budget they cannot cut school money protected by the state constitution. They should not cut higher education, which has been seriously damaged already. That leaves the other agencies, starting with Social and Health Services and moving on to Corrections, Licensing, and so on.
The tax proposal can offer to "buy back" these cuts, but first the cuts must be agreed upon.