Battle Over Tax Cuts Could Escalate With Veto Lawmakers Of Both Parties Line Up To Override Lowry Veto Of Tax Break For Business
Washington lawmakers’ tax-cut war with Democratic Gov. Mike Lowry could escalate with a veto late this week.
Lowry has promised to veto tax cuts he thinks are excessive. Legislators from both parties already are lining up to hand Lowry his first veto override, united by a desire to give an election-year business tax break of $130 million.
The governor says legislators, including his own Democrats, are being too generous with tax cuts this year, given the specter of a billion-dollar cutback of federal aid and soaring needs in some programs, such as higher education and prisons.
The Legislature ended its first week the way it began it, with a dramatic tax cut vote.
The House, which originally wanted to override Lowry’s 1995 veto of an identical tax cut, voted 72-19 late Friday to accept a Senate-passed bill granting a 50 percent rollback of the 1993 surcharge on the service industry, including doctors and lawyers.
It’s the first time in years that a session’s opening week has produced major legislation. Budget and tax votes typically are the last taken before lawmakers adjourn.
Property tax breaks of at least $90 million also are on the way from the Legislature. House conservatives also propose about $100 million in additional business and property tax breaks.
Lowry also dislikes the property tax legislation for both its cost and the way the bills are written.
A second tax-cut veto could be looming, lawmakers say.
Senate Democrats will offer the broad sketch of a budget rewrite at midweek, even as House Republicans wrestle with their own proposal behind closed doors. Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach, says his Democrats will propose adding a net of $150 million to the current $17.6 billion, two-year budget.
House Republicans initiate the budget this year, and plan to go public with the document in February.
After amendments and House passage, the measure then will go to the Senate, where the Democrats’ version will be substituted. A bipartisan panel of negotiators will settle the differences.
The prospect of yet another Lowry veto is a slight possibility, based on his insistence that lawmakers preserve a surplus of about $500 million.
Both houses have suggested that $300 million is adequate, although the House is willing to bump that to $400 million.
As lawmakers continue their frantic pace, most of the action this week will be in the committee rooms, with the nitty-gritty work of hammering out legislation to submit to the full House and Senate.
The results could affect your pocketbook, state services and even your safety. Lawmakers will be tackling everything from water rights and a “Two Strikes and You’re Out” crackdown on violent sex offenders to overhaul of the welfare system and campaign finance reform.