The folks that wanted to raise gas taxes for stormwater clean-up have circled around to the back door, but they're still trying to break into the wrong house. Here's Erik Smith's account of the proposal in Washington State Wire.
The stage is set for the next battle royal in the state Legislature – over a plan to triple the state’s hazardous-waste cleanup tax and eventually use the proceeds to combat pollution in Puget Sound. The tax would raise nearly $350 million a year, the bulk of it to be paid by the state’s oil refiners, and ultimately, by everyone who buys gasoline or diesel at the pump.
The proposal is backed by the state’s environmental groups and city and county lobbying organizations. And to make the idea irresistible to the cash-strapped state Legislature, they’re suggesting that lawmakers keep most of the money – at least for the first couple of years.
It's a bad idea, as opposition spokesman Dave Fisher makes clear in Smith's story.
Opponents say the plan could raise gas prices as much as six cents a gallon, if oil companies can find a way to pass the full amount on to consumers. Because of the competitive nature of the oil business, refiners may have to eat some of the cost. But whatever consumers don’t pay will be subtracted from jobs and industry investment, said opposition campaign spokesman Dave Fisher.
“Tripling the ... tax by a quarter-billion dollars a year would have a huge economic impact that would be felt at the pump, or in lost employment, or both, at a time when the economy can’t absorb the hit,” he said.
Right.
Yet, Jerry Cornfield reports they're planning to drop the bill ASAP.
In Crosscut, Daniel Jack Chasan asks a silly question in an extended and generally uncritical piece on the proposal.
What's not to like — unless you represent an industry that would wind up paying a higher tax (and presumably passing it along)?
It will be passed along to just about every taxpayer and employer in the state, raising costs, stifling job creation and slowing recovery.
What's not to like? Everything.
