Stop the catastrophic cuts to Washington families!

I have seen what devastating cuts to the state budget could look like if you do not include new revenue options this year, and I am strongly urging you to do everything you can to preserve the programs and services we currently use every day. The cuts outlined in Governor Inslee’s Book 1 budget are nothing short of catastrophic. Taking away billions of dollars from health care, housing, and cash assistance for working families will create unlivable conditions for many Washingtonians. Additionally, cuts to early learning and higher education will rob our students of their right to learn and grow and deny Washington’s future economy an educated workforce. You have a mandate from the people to make a different choice. Last November, Washingtonians overwhelmingly stood up to protect funding for education, childcare, and health care and rejected one millionaire’s attempt to buy himself a tax break. Please do not address our state’s revenue shortfall by cutting the services we currently rely on, nor by dialing up regressive taxes as a tool to balance the budget on our backs. We need new, sustainable, progressive revenue to keep working families, schools, and critical programs afloat. There are several innovative and truly progressive revenue ideas for your consideration this year, and I especially urge you to support closing the payroll tax loophole on employers who pay the highest salaries and a new tax on excessive financial assets. These options are practical, popular, and, most importantly, provide sustainable funding for our services for years to come. Washingtonians are more aware than ever that our tax code is one of the most upside-down in the nation, with low-wage workers paying three times more of their incomes in local taxes than their wealthy neighbors. We must stop doing business as usual. It’s time to make wealthy individuals and corporations pay what they truly owe in taxes so we can have what we need