Rep. Liz Pike introduced House Bill 2063, which establishes a scholarship tax credit that will make it possible for families to consider a wider range of educational options for their...Read more here
Budget & Taxes Blog Posts
Budget & Taxes Blog Posts
A budget is where priorities meet realities. At least that's how it should work.
The problem with government is that it gets to write the rules--about tax rates, fees, and even what counts as a balanced budget. That makes it easy for politicians to pretend everything is a priority and every moment a crisis demanding greater sacrifice from taxpayers.
The Freedom Foundation is a tireless voice for priority-based budgeting in state and local government. We work with responsible policymakers to craft sound, balanced budgets. We expose irresponsibility and gimmicks. We helped launch performance audits in Washington State as well as the model for health savings accounts eventually adopted into federal law.
We work with elected officials and citizens to make government budget writing transparent and to focus it on real priorities, cutting spending on programs that are unnecessary, counterproductive or unconstitutional.
The principles are pretty simple: taxes should be as low, simple, and fair as possible and budgets should be balanced.
May 09, 2013
New Law Restricts Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying
As reported by the Spokesman Review, Jay Inslee signed into law Wednesday a bill to make government officials personally liable for fines.
May 06, 2013
Shortened School Year
In recent years, we have seen an escalating trend of school districts in Washington adjusting the schedule to be more convenient for adults. Families and taxpayers should be receiving the school calendar which best serves students.
May 02, 2013
The history of special sessions
The trend isn't promising. The Washington State Legislature is holding more special sessions, meeting longer, and making taxpayers pay for their failure to finish on time.
May 02, 2013
Unnecessary special session starts May 13
Special session starts on Monday, May 13. While the Governor could limit the special session to budget matters, he’s doing the opposite and demanding revival of some of the most controversial policy bills—forced abortion insurance, gun control, etc.
April 24, 2013
What education costs you
How many hours a day do you have to work to fund American education?
April 19, 2013
No Legislative Change on School Days
Legislators who are concerned about the rapid growth in “early release” school days have not been successful at defining the school day. On the other hand, legislators who have responded to school employees’ desire to further reduce the number days students are served have also...Read more here
April 18, 2013
HB 2038: Beer for kids
Legislators claim they want to make taxes more uniform ... and then try to single out beer for special tax hikes. House Bill 2038 exposes an agenda focused on revenue but cloaked in talk of "fairness."
April 18, 2013
Education Budgets Compared
New spending on education falls into four categories: (1) filling gaps, (2) expanding services, (3) expanding costs, and (4) trading inneficient expenditures for more efficient ones. Which do you suppose gets the most attention?
April 09, 2013
Pension spiking: defrauding taxpayers in slow motion
It sounds like a sleazy advertisement: earn over $10,000 for life ... without working! Yet it's real for some retired government employees thanks to a practice called "pension spiking."