By BARB FLYE
Guest Writer

I’d like to propose a different kind of New Year’s resolution for Washingtonians: Let’s kick the habit of saying we can’t possibly change our tax system for the better. It’s self-defeating, boring, and frankly… wrong.

I know. We have the most regressive tax system in the nation. The lowest income families pay over five times as great a share of their meager income in state and local taxes as the wealthiest families do. These families are already hardest pressed by stagnant wages and high health care, housing, gas, and energy costs. No wonder Washington state has the third-fastest growing gap between rich and poor in the nation.

True. Our tax system is inadequate. We’re plagued by frequent budget crises and structural deficit, and we don’t have enough revenue to support a quality education for every child, provide health and long-term care for all, ensure that all Washingtonians have a roof over their heads, protect our environment, repair and improve our infrastructure, provide more affordable public transit, and so much more. Yet, as Marilyn Watkins from the Economic Opportunity Institute outlined in her guest column [“Break Even: Three small steps toward fixing Washington’s unfair taxes,” Jan. 3], a host of special interests are getting tax preferences worth billions.

So here’s the essential question: Do you sigh and say, “Some things never change”? Do you let your elected representatives — even those in progressive districts — off the hook, because they can say there’s no public demand for action?

Or do you shrug off the conventional “wisdom” (or lack of it), get a little ticked off, embrace the need to change our tax system, and acknowledge the fact that we’ve already started that reform in relatively modest but significant ways?

Last fall, voters across the state soundly defeated Initiative 920, which would have repealed Washington’s estate tax — one of our few progressive taxes. They affirmed that it is appropriate for people to support public goods, like education, based on their ability to pay.

Last session, constituents convinced their legislators to create a Citizens’ Commission on Tax Preferences, which is systematically reviewing many of the 553 tax exemptions already on the books. That’s a major step toward greater transparency and accountability.

A strong and growing statewide coalition — the Washington Tax Fairness Coalition — helped make those gains possible. Our 70 education, health, policy, labor, senior, civic, social justice, environmental, and faith-based member organizations statewide think this is only the beginning, and we invite you to get on board.

This session, help us pass a bill to require a tax expenditure report alongside the budget. If enacted, this “big picture budget” bill will ensure that the cost of tax preferences — the billions that are, in effect, “spent” because we don’t collect the tax — are weighed fairly and directly against public investments we could be making with those funds in high-priority areas like education, housing, health care, and public transit.

Right now, tax preferences are approved piecemeal in a process that is separate from the budget. Billions are taken off the table before the budget is even debated. When legislators say we can’t afford things we want — ranging from universal pre-kindergarten to bridge repairs — they aren’t looking at or counting the revenue that has already been given away in tax preferences.

Once this bill becomes law, policymakers will have the whole budget picture and will have to confront whether revenue given away in tax preferences could be used more effectively to strengthen our economy and improve our quality of life.

We’d also welcome your help in promoting a new surcharge on the enormous profits of big oil companies like ExxonMobil, which raked in a record-breaking $10 billion in just one quarter of 2006.

Requiring highly profitable oil corporations to give back a portion of their windfall would help ease the strain of high energy costs on publicly funded institutions and services like hospitals, nursing homes, and government. We could also use a portion of the surcharge to invest in clean energy alternatives — a triple bonus that stimulates the economy, helps the environment, and gives us greater energy independence.

Like the most famous New Year’s resolution, to diet, reforming our tax system is something we must do, but it isn’t easy and it may take some time. We’ve already shaped up in some key respects. Let’s focus now on where we want to end up and why it’s worth the effort. And what could be more worthwhile than a budget that is not only fair but stable, accountable, and sufficient enough to fund all the public investments needed to create real opportunity and security for all?

Barbara Flye, the Executive Director of the Washington Tax Fairness Coalition, has more than 16 years of experience in community organizing and coalition-building on a variety of issues including housing, health care, hunger, and living wages.

[Do something]

Find out more and act on your newest resolution today by signing up at: www.wataxfairness.org.