Washington Economy Among Nation's Best, But Budget Problems Persist

The state's economy grew 4.3 percent in 2007. As Seattle P-I reporter Dan Richman reports, that's good, but it's been better.

Washington's 2007 growth rate -- better than its 2006 growth rate of 3.5 percent, but down from 2005's 5.1 percent -- tied with that of the District of Columbia for the third-highest in the nation.

We'll have to grow a lot faster than that to overcome the projected $2.5 billion shortfall the nonpartisan Senate Ways and Means Committee identifies for the coming biennium. And lately, reports of budget crunches abound, with the state's largest county facing a $70 million shortfall.

Rising gas prices are adding to the budget challenges facing state and local government. So the $7 a barrel jump in oil prices suggests that the projected shortfalls may be understated.

And if that's not enough to cause concern, Rep. Dave Quall offers a Seattle Times op-ed calling for substantial increases in education spending.

In the upcoming 2009 legislative session, we must update our definition of "basic education," figure out what it will cost (it will be an enormous number), and come up with a completely new funding system to make it happen.

A completely new funding system? However you slice it, that means either an increase in existing taxes or a new tax (income?). With a predicted multibillion dollar hole in the state budget and cash-strapped taxpayers dealing with increases in the cost of, well, everything (mortgages, rents, food, gas), where's that coming from? Businesses here also see the cost of everything increasing, including one of the nation's highest tax burdens. And, as Quall notes, it's not as if the state hasn't been stepping up education funding.

More than 40 percent of our state budget goes to K-12 education. That's more than any other state program. In the past two years alone, legislators invested $1 billion additional dollars in K-12 education.

So, add "an enormous number" to $2.5 billion shortfall and you get a tax hike the likes of which we've never seen before. If that's what lawmakers are proposing, it's time to be clear about it.