4.3.17

Suggested lead:. The big issue of the day Monday in Olympia was tax reform to fund K-12 schools. Dan Frizzell has more.

Wrap (:95 total):

LYTTON: “The key components of the bill are both that it’s a more progressive, more fair tax system, the other component for me that’s very important is giving relief to our small businesses.” [:12]

That’s Representative Kristine Lytton, chair of the House Finance Committee.  Her committee held a public hearing Monday on a group of tax reforms needed to pay for Supreme-Court-mandated investments in K-12 schools. Citizens testifying at the Hearing, a hundred strong, were mostly supportive of the plan, and Lytton, a Democrat from Anacortes, says that didn’t come as a surprise.  No one likes taxes, she said, but the House plan actually cuts taxes for more than a quarter-million Washington businesses – completely wiping out the hated B&O for more than seventy percent of the businesses in the state.

LYTTON: “The key components of the bill are both that it’s a more progressive, more fair tax system, the other component for me that’s very important is giving relief to our small businesses.” [:14]

The House plan closes a number of outdated tax breaks that no longer benefit the state, and collects a modest capital-gains tax that would affect the top one or two percent of taxpayers.  It’s a sharp contrast to the plan advanced by Senate Republican leaders, which would raise several billion dollars by increasing property taxes paid by middle- and working-class taxpayers, mostly in the Puget Sound region.  The Legislature is set to adjourn in just three weeks – not much time to bridge a gap that large, but Lytton said she remains hopeful Republicans will finally join her and her Democratic colleagues at the negotiating table soon.   In Olympia, I’m Dan Frizzell.