State budget
Lawmakers should follow Idaho’s lead
Dear Editor:
It has become painfully obvious that the state Legislature has made a forceful decision to run the state’s economy into the ground.
At the end of the day, state spending will go up $4 billion in this biennium, while imposing taxes on the private sector. Using accounting gimmicks, one time Federal Stimulus funds, not fully funding state pension obligations, refusing to increase health care costs on the state employee unions, etc., these and other efforts on the part of the Legislature will result in a projected deficit of $9 billion in the next biennium.
Businesses are closing their doors daily and lawmakers apparently do not care or do not understand how the private sector supports government.
Certainly, the governor of Idaho understands why business locates in a state and the impact it has on jobs and the local economy.
Is Mary Margaret Haugen so beholden to her political base that she cannot do the right thing for the people of this state?
There are hard choices to be made now in order to regain economic stability for Washington state.
I had hoped that Ms. Haugen and her colleagues in the majority party would be capable of these types of decisions.
Instead, it is politics as usual and our citizens suffer the consequences.
Gregory Gosch Camano Island
