Tag Archives: B&O tax

Don’t replace botched tax hike, says budget leader, just abandon it

Tax would balloon to $1 billion from $773 million under Senate majority proposal 

The state Senate’s majority Democrats should simply repeal the badly flawed business-tax increase that took effect Jan. 1 rather than pursue a new plan that would take far more money from professional-service providers, says Sen. John Braun.

“The majority wants to replace a dysfunctional and unnecessary tax increase with one that’s still unjustified but is easier to collect, fully aware that the hit on employers would now soar to a billion dollars over four years,” said Braun, R-Centralia and Republican leader on the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The panel will have a public hearing on the proposed replacement at 3:30 p.m. today in Senate Hearing Room 4 at the state Capitol. 

“Calling for a do-over that knowingly puts hundreds of millions more into government’s hands is a whole new take on the concept of ‘government greed’. It would be better to listen to the voters who gave this tax a thumbs-down, roll the rates back to the pre-2019 level and then just walk away. With the state’s revenue picture running 850 million dollars ahead of projections, Olympia can afford to let these employers keep more of their money,” Braun said. Continue reading →

Lower B&O taxes for manufacturers proposed to help reverse job losses

A bipartisan group of lawmakers are hoping to revive a reduction in the state’s business and occupation tax for manufacturers and reverse the trend of significant job losses in the sector. The proposal would implement a 40 percent reduction in the tax rate for manufacturers, which passed with overwhelming support during the 2017 legislative session, but was ultimately vetoed by Gov. Jay Inslee.

“Washington’s manufacturing sector has lost more than 50,000 jobs this century,” said Sen. John Braun, R-Centralia, who sponsored and negotiated the 2017-19 budget which originally included the change. “Manufacturing jobs are critical to helping rural and suburban areas experience some of the same economic success urban communities have seen in recent years. We know we can afford this strategic investment since we paid for it in the current budget and are now projected to collect $1 billion more than we expected just seven months ago.”

The legislation phases in a reduction from a tax rate of 0.4840% down to 0.2904% by lowering it 10% annually over four years. That would bring all manufacturing businesses down to the same rate paid by Boeing and other aerospace businesses.

Manufacturing employment is the only sector in Washington to see job losses in the 21st century.  Of the jobs lost, 47,200 have been outside of the aerospace sector.

The new proposal includes a tax preference performance statement which highlights that the change is intended to create and retain jobs, improve industry competitiveness, and reduce structural inefficiencies.

Lawmakers are on day 16 of a short 60-day legislative session scheduled to end March 8.