When you pass the final budget of many pages in a big rush violating your own rules - no time for it - you sometimes get something wrong. The soda-pop tax.
Don't you just feel sorry for our legislature? They work so hard for so long that they just can't take time and energy for hearings on the details of the budget. They can't even let it be on the shelf long enough for all their members - or the public! - to read it.
They went to extraordinary lengths this session to avoid even the normal daylight in the process. They held hearings with a few hours notice when the text of the bill was not available, violating Senate Rule 45. They scheduled hearings when the bill text was not available before the hearing began. They held the hearing for a bill that hadn't been introduced.
SB 6835 was passed with only a title, no text, by the Senate Ways and Means Committee on February 9. Jason Mercier at WPC (pdf) This link details several of these actions.
And they passed an amendment to a nonexistent law. EFF WA Heroic, eh?
But this is inside politics, they say. No one will notice. What could possibly go wrong?
They messed up one - so far - of their beloved tax increases. The soda pop tax proposal brought cries of pain from the in-state industry. So they were exempted. Supposed to be. But our Democrat leadership - aren't they smarter than us? - didn't know enough about the industry to properly exempt our industry and the final budget does not.
Just one hearing would have disclosed the problem.
After the budget was passed, but before it was signed, the error was discovered. Even House leader Frank Chopp asked Christine Gregoire to line-item veto this tax.
Gregoire signed the budget Friday without vetoing the pop tax. After all, it would cut $38.1 million in revenue and another $35.3 million if it also affects bottled water.
Washington State Wire.com has the details:
Bottlers rushed to the Capitol the moment they sensed danger. They staged a rally on the Capitol steps the final Saturday of the session, and the hundreds of blue-shirted Pepsi employees and red-shirted Coca-Cola workers for once outnumbered the green and the purple shirts of the state employees. ...So the tax hits the local industry.House Majority Leader Lynn Kessler, D-Hoquiam, came out to the Capitol steps and told the crowd that lawmakers thought their jobs were important. She said they'd found a way to help the mom-and-pop bottling operations around the state. Just two hours before, House and Senate negotiators had released the final version of their tax bill for public inspection, and it contained an exemption written especially for them. Every bottler would be exempted from tax on the first $10 million in sales.
The House passed the bill a few hours later.
All's well that ends well, right?
Just one problem. Most of the small bottlers don't actually do any bottling. No one in the Legislature knew.
This is just one cost of our Legislature intentionally removing their process's transparency. What other costs? The trust of the public...
I'm not sure how I feel about the soda tax, especially since it includes diet soda. But if we have one, it shouldn't discriminate among brands, manufacturers, bottlers, distributors, retailers, etc. I can't blame the local "bottlers" for asking for a special break, but they don't deserve one.
Posted by: Bruce on April 27, 2010 08:46 AMYou're starting to sound like a conservative.
This reminds of the Waxman disaster also, and of the news that the White House buried its own report that says how Obamacare will increase health care costs more than if it hadn't passed, until a month after it passed.
Posted by: Gary on April 27, 2010 09:05 AMI'd say more like a CF or FUBAR.
Posted by: James on April 27, 2010 09:07 AMThe exact same thing could be said about income.
Isn't making the first $10 mil in sales exempt from this tax the same as saying that the first (whatever your standard deduction is) of personal income is exempt from income tax?
Why do you say it makes no sense for this tax but you don't seem to have a problem with the same thing when it comes to income tax?
Posted by: Ken on April 27, 2010 10:06 AMSo Bruce, since you think there should be no exemptions, I am curious about the exemption of unions from having their "cadillac health plans" taxed while it is imposed on everyone else.
Where are your howls of protest over that one?
Posted by: pbj on April 27, 2010 10:17 AMHowever, I looked up the union exemption on Cadillac health care plans, which I'd never heard of before. As I understand it, unions feel it's unfair that they negotiated multi-year agreements based on one set of rules and now the rules are changing. That makes some sense; although the rules are changing for everyone, unions with multi-year agreements can't adapt as easily as other parties. The articles I found online say the exemption applies until 2018, but it's not clear whether this means all union healthcare won't be taxed until 2018 (which seems too generous), or just plans that were bargained for prior to the enactment of the healthcare bill (which is imperfect but I can see being part of the inevitably political process).
If the Republicans had sincerely tried to compromise on healthcare reform, the Democrats would not have been forced to cater to special interests like this to avoid a filibuster. That's not to blame the Republicans for a bill they didn't vote for. But if you don't participate in the process, you can't expect a say in the final bill.
Posted by: Bruce on April 27, 2010 10:42 AMWith all due respect...you're full of crap. : )
Posted by: Jack on April 27, 2010 10:50 AMOh.
And if you are locked out of the process??? By "participate" you mean capitulate. Sorta like Poland "participated" in its reorganization by the Nazi's in WWII.
So basically when it suits your political ends you are all for specials treatment like the $300 million Louisiana purchase. You are a hypocrite!
Posted by: pbj on April 27, 2010 12:01 PMI think you meant to say:
"But if you are not invited to participate in the process you can't expect a say in the final bill."
That would be more accurate.
I hope you will be as magnanimous if the shoe ends up on the other foot.
Posted by: eyago on April 27, 2010 12:01 PMThat exemption does not exist in the health care bill signed into law by President Obama. It was, in fact, never in any piece of legislation nor any amendment passed during the entire health care debate.
Posted by: John Jensen on April 27, 2010 12:31 PMANSWER THE QUESTION YOU HAVE DODGED FOR 8 months! Did you serve your nation's military? I asked you this when you came to the defense of terrorist Hassan that gunned down the soldiers at Ft Hood.
ANSWER THE QUESTION!
Posted by: PBJ on April 27, 2010 01:34 PMPosted by Duffman at April 27, 2010 09:15 AM
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Old Huey's, they never let you down. Even full of holes.
Posted by: Medic/Vet on April 27, 2010 01:57 PMHinton, You aren't suggesting on a public forum that you are breaking the law by not paying the tax on things you buy out of state, are you?
From the Washington Department of Revenue website:
"
When is use tax due?
Use tax is due if:
* Goods are purchased in another state that does not have a sales tax or a state with a sales tax lower than Washington’s. For example, items you purchase in Oregon that are used in Washington are subject to use tax.
How do I pay use tax?
Use tax is determined on the value of the goods when first used in Washington. Generally, this is the purchase price. However, a depreciated value may be determined if the goods are used outside the state for a lengthy time before use in Washington by the same person. As of June 1, 2002, use tax is also due on any freight, delivery, or shipping charges paid to the seller.
The state tax rate is .065. Local rates vary depending on your location. To determine the correct rate for your area, check out our Local Sales Tax Rates or try our Tax Rate Lookup Tool. Use tax, unlike sales tax, is due at the rate where you first use the article, not where the sale takes place.
To pay use tax
* Online: Try our free, secure online application. It guides you through simple filing steps and gives you several payment options.
* By paper: Complete and mail a Consumer Use Tax Return. (pdf)"
I thought the purpose of the tax was to reduce obesity ...
Posted by: Borderland on April 28, 2010 07:45 AM