State Sen. Lisa Brown wants to use a horrible tactic to raise taxes. She is going to use class envy to get the middle class and poor to vote in an income tax on the “higher wage earners” (those earning $200,000) in exchange for reducing the sales tax upon themselves. If this goes through, how many of these “higher wage earners” will stick around Washington state very long, much less hire any more of the middle class and poor.

So now she wants to let the voters decide? Well, I thought that’s what we did when we approved I-960 requiring a two-thirds majority for tax increases that the Legislature just suspended?

So who believes the sales tax won’t eventually just creep back up again? And the threshold for those required to pay the income tax will eventually drop like a rock.

First the governor and Legislature over spend and run up the budget 33 percent in four years. Then, because of their mismanagement, they suspend the will of the people and propose all kinds of new taxes.

Instead, they should do the right thing which is to cut the size and scope of the government and cut taxes in order to stimulate the economy. But why would they do that? It has only worked to get us out of recession every time it has been applied before.

Ty Welch

Oak Harbor