Tax raise amendment fails to get two-thirds in Senate

OLYMPIA — The proposed constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds majority to raise taxes failed to receive two-thirds of the vote in the Senate Friday.

Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, said the result of the vote was expected.

“I wasn’t surprised, although I’m disappointed,” Warnick said.

The amendment was brought forth in response to an initiative passed by the voters in November 2015. Initiative 1366 called for a two-thirds majority vote in the Legislature to be able to raise taxes. However, the state constitution only requires a simple majority, and therefore a constitutional amendment would be required for the initiative to go into effect. A constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority to pass.

Initiatives to require a two-thirds majority have been passed by voters six times in Washington.

“The majority of the people in the state of Washington have repeatedly said that they are looking for a little higher standard to have their taxes increased,” Sen. Pam Roach, R-Sumner, said during the debate.

Many of the Republicans who spoke during the debate argued the Legislature should pass the amendment because it was the will of the people.

Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, said there were other aspects to the initiative people may have been voting for.

“Can you tell me that everybody that voted for this initiative wanted a two-thirds vote, or how many people were voting to lower the sales tax by a penny?” asked Hargrove during the debate.

The Democrats also argued that because the amendment defined eliminating a tax break as a raise in taxes, it would make it nearly impossible to modify corporate tax incentives.

“I do not believe that this resolution is about anything other than making it harder to close the kinds of big corporate tax breaks that we will need to close in order to bring some fairness back to middle-class and working-class families in the state,” said Sen. Pramila Jayapal, D-Seattle.

However, Warnick said the corporations in her district supply most of the jobs in the area.

“If tax breaks will help them be successful and help them stay in our area, I’m going to vote for tax incentives every time,” she said.

Other Democrats expressed concern over a small minority of people having the ability to stop bills from passing.

“If there was a two-thirds requirement, one-third could block anything. That ultimately results in a tyranny of the minority,” said Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle.

Sen. Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville, said a two-thirds majority is not impossible. He cited the transportation package the Legislature passed last session as an example where more than two-thirds of the Legislature in favor of it.

Asked if the failure of the amendment to get a two-thirds majority was a sign of the feat being too difficult, Warnick said, “It should be difficult to raise taxes; it’s not impossible, but it should be difficult.”