EDITORIAL: WA Dems must rethink approach to budget

A recent memo from Gov. Bob Ferguson's budget director should be required reading for all Democrats in the Legislature.

Writing to state agency directors, K.D. Chapman-See notes that "there will be significant budget shortfalls next biennium in both operating and transportation budgets. I want to be clear that we do not yet know precisely how significant the shortfalls will be."

She adds, "This year's revenue forecasts will likely not provide sufficient support for the maintenance of current programs, let alone any expansions" and emphasizes that, "a 'business as usual' approach will not meet the need of this moment."

While meeting the need of this moment falls on those who oversee the delivery of state services, Chapman-See's analysis should resonate most with lawmakers. Primarily, it should trigger a significant change in how the Democratic-led Legislature approaches taxing and spending.

The supplemental operating budget passed this year calls for $80 billion in state spending over two years; that is an 83 percent increase from the two-year operating budget of $43.7 billion approved in 2017.

Inflation during that period has been 36 percent, and the state's population has increased 10 percent; neither number justifies the steady climb in spending and the implementation of a series of new taxes. (For context: The state's gross domestic product increased 36 percent from 2017 to 2025.)

As Chris Gregoire, a Democrat who served as governor from 2005-13, said during a panel discussion last month in Vancouver: "I would suggest to you we don't really have an income problem. We have a spending problem. We're answering it by stacking one more tax, one more rule, one more regulation.

"We've lived on luck. Our luck has worn out. Competition is fierce across the country. It's time for us to step up and realize we have to plan. We have to not take everything for granted."

The "spending problem" assertion is a common trope among critics of state and federal budgets. And while it often represents pointless pandering to constituents, in Washington it is supported by facts. Rather than take a responsible approach to budgeting, lawmakers have treated the public as a perpetual spigot of revenue.

When faced with a budget challenge in 2021, lawmakers created a state capital gains tax. When facing similar challenges this year, they created a tax on incomes of more than $1 million. The millionaires tax does not begin collecting revenue until 2028 - if it survives court challenges and perhaps a ballot initiative.

There is some justification for persistent spending increases; the job of government is to provide services that enhance lives. But Washington's lofty goals are butting up against reality.

In meeting the need for savings, Chapman-See writes, Ferguson has requested that agencies focus on: Programs created or expanded after Jan. 1, 2019; "areas where Washington provides particularly high levels of service relative to other states, or is one of only a handful of states that provides a specific service or program"; and proposals "that reimagine service delivery in cost-effective ways."

Of course, governments always should take that approach to the spending of taxpayer money. But such prudence and self-control have been difficult for Washington lawmakers.

The result is an unsustainable budget created by a reckless process. State agency directors must deal with the fallout, but it is lawmakers who should alter their approach.

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