End double dipping by state pensioners. Here’s a Seattle Time column about this abuse.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2012293334_ryan07.html

For the “beer and nuts” crowd here are the “nuts and bolts”

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/reductions/2011-13/default.asp

eliminate boeing’s tax breaks.

I-1098…would have helped, I truly believe. But watch where the cuts come from…it will be on the backs of the poor and underprivileged..take away Basic Health care, take away food stamps..these are already being bandied about. Will any of it be “fair”? I don’t think so…but, that’s where they always go..social programs.

http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/dailyweekly/2010/11/gov_gregoire_urges_draconian_c.php

Tax the Indian Casinos

hooper, presumably you voted against a state income tax for the wealthy. Am I right? Well, I have a message for you, buddy, and for all the other people who voted against 1098:

The rest of us already gave you our idea for balancing the budget. Tax the rich, we said. But you turned our idea down. OK, now you can give us your ideas, and as long as you’re humble and thoughtful about it, we’ll listen patiently. Just don’t get too cocky. And for God’s sake, don’t expect us to provide you with a list of services to cut or people to hurt, because, frankly, we’d be insane to do that. Yes, we’d be insane to take the heat for the mistake YOU made by torpedoing I-1098 . . .

As for me, I might ultimately go along with some service cuts, but not until after we’ve also looked at every tax break given to corporations and the wealthy. (Yay, tanya! Yay, redblack!)

And in the meantime, I’m going to be applying the maximum amount of criticism to any of your proposals to cut public services or cut benefits for state workers . . .

So hooper: Is education your area of expertise? Based on the way you’ve been arguing this point so far, I doubt it. I’m still waiting for you to back up any of the claims you made on another thread about the cost of teaching challenged kids. How about some hard numbers or verifiable expert opinions on that, huh?

And brew: I guess you want all Washington State Patrol troopers to take an extra month off, right? Maybe you’d like to close down our universities and state medical facilities for a month, too. Shut down the court system? Send public health inspectors home?

Yeah, sure. Make everyone take a month off. Sounds like a great idea . . .

NOT!!!

Yeah… that was tough. It took a couple seconds and one Google search.

http://www.ofm.wa.gov/budget/default.asp

What is it with the attitude toward state employees? Most of them are not making a huge salary. They’re doing jobs that make our lives safer, jobs that a lot of people wouldn’t do for any amount of money. Sure, we all know about the firefighters and cops, but what about street maintenance, animal control, parking enforcement, building code enforcement, health inspectors for restaurants, the health care workers who take care of the ciminally insane at state hospitals – why do people think these folks shouldn’t be paid a reasonable salary and benefits for what they do? Traditionally they get paid a little less than private sector jobs and make it up in benefits. And they’ve all already taken cuts in pay and benefits and experienced layoffs. What we need to concentrate on is improving job pay, benefits, and security in the private sector, not making public sector jobs worse.

Further cuts to services are not something I’m interested in looking at.

I think the income tax was a good idea, but since that didn’t pass, how about some kind of luxury tax? An extra tax on things like vehicles (RV’s, cars, trucks, boats,etc) valued over a certain dollar amount, or on the sale of residences over a certain dollar amount? A tax on fur coats? On jewelry over a certain amount?

Another thing is to revisit some of those corporate tax breaks for larger companies like Boeing, Weyerhaeuser, Microsoft, etc. When doing my business taxes, on the forms I fill out I see lots of exemptions for the big guns that the rest of us don’t get.

tell that to the person who loses his/her health care insurance, Hooper. And then, when they go to the ER when they’re sick, where it costs more, and you have to pay for it (Charity care, AKA “Patient Assistance”), what will you say then?

A high school principal, retired or not, is voicing an opinion, not facts. Yes, they’re on the inside, on some things…but not everything. Of course, that’s just MHO

Righty-O!

An automobile is right up there at the top of the list of things the human body can’t function without, like a heart and lungs!

Mike

Well, Jan, doncha know that 40 years or so ago, you shoulda aspired to be successful, worked 4 full-time jobs to put yourself through the best University in the World, taken a full course load, graduated at the top of your Class, with Honors and Degrees, and by now you’d be the wealthy CEO of some Mega-Corporation, and money would be of no concern.

And, you know what else?

That Mega-Corp would also be rewarding you with a very, very, handsome health benefits package!

Mike