What Are They Saying About Levy Equalization This Week?

"We're going to be talking about Basic Health soon, Disability Lifeline soon, levy equalization. School districts are going to get nailed."

--Marty Brown, the Governor's budget director, during the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council meeting from Thursday.

"That discussion includes the Basic Health Plan, which provides health insurance for poor people, and Disability Lifeline, a welfare and health care program for unemployable adults. Both programs are entirely state-financed. Levy equalization payments that aid rural and property-poor school districts also could be on the table, Brown said."

--Marty Brown in the Kitsap Sun

"Just as we saw Reagan Dunn rail against tax increases and then attempt to shift budget away from Publc Health to sherif deputies to guard his castle, we will see Republicans in the legislature the rose on the tax cut camp song beg on the Senate flloor for levy equalization funds. The answer will be no, you wanted no, you ran on no, go get no."

--A commentator at Crosscut

Can't get a two-thirds majority to raise revenue for, well, anything? Then act like the Republicans claim they would act, and start making those painful cuts. You know, by cutting things like school levy equalization.

Yeah, I know, levy equalization is good policy and all that, but let's try to approach this from a classical, free market, Republican perspective for a moment. I mean, if folks out in rural Washington are unwilling or unable to raise local school levies sufficient to educate their children, then perhaps they shouldn't even have public schools? That's the market at work, right? So why should taxpayer dollars be sucked away from school children in Seattle to help pay for schools in communities that obviously don't care enough about their children to properly educate them? At a time of budgetary crisis like this, how can we possibly afford to pay for all this rural welfare?

--David Goldstein, normally of Horse's Ass, posting at Slog

Read more here, if any.

No on I-1033 Week: Because Tim Eyman Is a Twit

Sound Politics has given Tim a platform to talk about I-1033, which seems kind of repetitive because he'd be preaching to the choir there, but such is life. What's rather funny is one of the headlines he used:

GREGOIRE BLOWS A GASKET OVER INITIATIVE 1033
....particularly when you compare that to the previous video of him acting like a jerk to Joel Connelly and David Goldstein.

It also doesn't help that his biggest critique is a house built on sand:

After Gregoire recently announced that she's changed her position and now wants higher taxes - whatever increases "lawmakers and interest groups" tell her to enact - the need for Initiative 1033 became even more evident.

Let's compare that to what she actually said (emphasis mine):

Now Gov. Chris Gregoire, of all people, jump-started the tax talk in response to a question from Associated Press reporter Curt Woodward. The governor said her “door is open” to lawmakers and advocates who want to make the case for a tax package come January. “I’ve told them come on in, convince me that that’s the right thing to do and that the people will support it,” said Gregoire in a briefing with Capitol reporters.

So she's asked lawmakers (you know, the guys we elect) to make their case, and if they can convince her that tax increases are the best way, she'll consider it.

That's a long ways off from the metaphorical dinner bell that Eyman would have you think that she's ringing. My belief is that the political will won't possibly be there this session, since 2010 is an election year, and that's despite a reasonable argument to be made that taxes might be better than the alternative.

Government may have it's problems, but this initiative is not the solution.

Read more here, if any.