Subscribe to WPC's weekly newsletter	Email:
Quick Find:

Lawmakers impose $768 million in fee and tax increases in 2008
More than $200 billion in fee and tax increases proposed

by Jason Mercier, Director, Center for Government Reform
May 2008

---

Introduction

The cost of government is going up this year. During the 2008 Legislative Session, lawmakers imposed $768 million in fee and tax increases over a ten-year period. Home inspections, background checks, fingerprinting, floral services and state tuition are among those activities that will cost more as a result. 

Last November voters enacted Initiative 960, The Taxpayer Protection Act. Under Initiative 960, the legislature is required to approve all agency fee increases before they can take effect. Also among the new law’s provisions is a requirement for the Office of Financial Management (OFM) to determine the ten-year cost to taxpayers of any proposed tax or fee increase and to make this information publicly available, along with the contact information of the legislator sponsoring the increase.

According to Initiative 960’s intent section for this requirement (Section 2 in-part):

“The people want a thorough, independent analysis of any proposed increase in taxes and fees . . . [and] a user-friendly method to track the progress of bills increasing taxes and fees, finding that transparency and openness leads to more public involvement and better understanding.”

As a result of this requirement, OFM conducted fiscal reviews of all bills that proposed tax and fee increases and reported the ten-year impact in the fiscal notes for those bills. OFM also created a self-subscription service for email updates on any bill that proposed tax or fee increases.

2008 Tax and Fee Proposals

During the 2008 Legislative Session, state senators proposed 46 bills (including companion bills) that would increase state taxes or fees. The initial versions of these proposals sought to raise $215.4 billion in revenue over a ten-year period. Of these proposals, the legislature adopted five, raising $13 million in fees or taxes.

Senate Fee and Tax Increases
(Proposed and enacted bills)

Lead Sponsor	Bills	10-Year Increase
Democrat	42	$215,332,937,353
Republican	4	$47,128,967
Proposed	46	$215,380,066,320
Enacted	5	$13,136,116

State representatives proposed 36 bills (including companion bills) that initially sought to raise $98.8 billion in fees or taxes over a ten-year period. The legislature ultimately adopted nine of these bills, raising $755 million in fees or taxes.

House Fee and Tax Increases
(Proposed and enacted bills)

Lead Sponsor	Bills	10-Year Increase
Democrat	32	$98,772,553,534
Republican	4	$12,312,300
Proposed	36	$98,784,865,834
Enacted	9	$755,262,888

In total the legislature enacted 14 bills raising fees and taxes by $768 million over a ten-year period.

Enacted Fee and Tax Increases

Bill	Type	10-Year Increase
1103	Background checks	3,563,100
1273	License filing	3,418,100
2674	Counselor credentials	6,605,000
2687	Various fees for University of Washington, Washington State University, Eastern Washington University, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, Labor and Industries, Licensing, Health, Ecology and Agriculture	605,972,711
2778	Fingerprinting	3,276,420
2815	Emissions reporting	4,868,500
2878	Tolls for SR 167 and Tacoma Narrows bridge	40,921,000
3254	Ignition interlock license	33,553,969
3381	Various fees for Financial Institutions, Labor and Industries, Licensing, Health and Agriculture	53,084,088
5642	Cigarette certification	333,000
6439	Radiologic tech certification	87,000
6471	Mortgage lender license	7,817,076
6606	Home inspectors licensing	3,169,040
6799	Florists sales	1,730,000
Total		$768,399,004

Conclusion

Since the 2008 Legislative Session was the first one conducted under the requirements of Initiative 960, it is difficult to determine if the number of tax and fee increase proposals introduced and adopted this year is the norm. To help determine any trends in tax and fee increase proposals in the future, Washington Policy Center will update this report after each session and keep a running total of all bills that fall under the requirements of Initiative 960.

As a general rule, however, all tax and fee increases should have an expiration date (sunset). When tax and fee increases are set to expire, lawmakers will have the opportunity to look at the facts and determine if the tax and fee is serving its intended purpose. If revenue from the tax or fee is still justified, lawmakers can reauthorize it for a period of time. If the project or goal for which the tax or fee was imposed has been accomplished, citizens should be permitted to keep their money.

Senate I-960 Bills
(10-year revenue increase)

Bill	Lead Sponsor	Party	First Version	Final Version	Enacted
6631	Berkey	D	29,920	29,920	no
6546	Brandland	R	33,553,969	33,553,969	no
6402	Carrell	R	8,193,243	8,193,240	no
6370	Delvin	R	5,369,285	5,369,285	no
6603	Fairley	D	61,290,000,000	61,290,000,000	no
6884	Fraser	D	12,169,092	12,169,092	no
5043	Haugen	D	55,032,000	55,032,000	no
6235	Haugen	D	1,542,600	0	no
6936	Hobbs	D	9,630,000	9,630,000	no
6493	Hobbs	D	136,800	212,400	no
6901	Jacobsen	D	689,364	689,364	no
6756	Jacobsen	D	110,000	110,000	no
5296	Kastama	D	49,833,000	49,833,000	no
5180	Kastama	D	14,361,620	14,361,620	no
6221	Keiser	D	145,112,994,843	145,112,994,843	no
6092	Keiser	D	71,265,000	71,265,000	no
6200	Keiser	D	24,530,742	24,530,742	no
6456	Keiser	D	6,638,000	6,630,000	no
6931	Kline	D	108,159,724	108,159,724	no
6682	Kohl-Welles	D	832,284	1,013,832	no
6302	Kohl-Welles	D	419,000	419,000	no
5642	Kohl-Welles	D	1,092,000	333,000	yes
5831	Kohl-Welles	D	8,958,900	0	yes
6952	Marr	D	3,542,400	3,542,400	no
6292	Marr	D	11,700	11,700	no
6537	McAuliffe	D	91,211,000	91,211,000	no
5456	Morton	R	12,470	12,470	no
6923	Murray	D	6,054,494,940	6,054,494,940	no
6694	Murray	D	8,775,000	8,775,000	no
6757	Murray	D	1,139,800	1,139,800	no
6692	Murray	D	990,810	990,810	no
6856	Prentice	D	572,435,438	572,435,438	no
6441	Prentice	D	29,680,995	29,680,995	no
6951	Prentice	D	27,502,000	27,502,000	no
6850	Prentice	D	3,418,100	3,418,100	no
6516	Pridemore	D	5,564,000	4,868,500	no
6620	Pridemore	D	4,900	0	no
6723	Rasmussen	D	1,260,000	180,000	no
6799	Regala	D	1,730,000	1,730,000	yes
6242	Spanel	D	7,668,000	7,668,000	no
6606	Spanel	D	3,974,775	3,169,040	yes
6439	Spanel	D	141,000	87,000	yes
6900	Tom	D	1,737,468,030	1,737,468,030	no
6498	Tom	D	5,670,000	3,276,420	no
6471	Weinstein	D	7,817,076	7,817,076	yes
6384	Weinstein	D	12,500	12,500	no
	Total:		$215,380,066,320	$215,364,021,250

House I-960 Bills
(10-year revenue increase)

Bill	Lead Sponsor	Party	First Version	Final Version	Enacted
2456	Appleton	D	78,597,000	78,597,000	no
2674	Barlow	D	6,638,000	6,605,000	yes
1103	Campbell	R	3,855,600	3,563,100	yes
2420	Chase	D	26,737,678,223	26,737,678,223	no
2421	Chase	D	8,537,662,000	8,537,662,000	no
2425	Chase	D	562,400,000	562,400,000	no
3014	Chase	D	4,900	4,900	no
2878	Clibborn	D	5,950,684	40,921,000	yes
1876	Conway	D	9,611,100	9,611,100	no
2942	Conway	D	8,775,000	8,775,000	no
2778	Conway	D	5,670,000	3,276,420	yes
3310	Darneille	D	63,000	63,000	no
2815	Dunshee	D	5,564,000	4,868,500	yes
2776	Goodman	D	33,553,969	33,553,969	no
3254	Goodman	D	33,553,969	33,553,969	yes
3156	Goodman	D	15,080,436	15,080,436	no
2906	Hinkle	R	5,015,700	5,015,700	no
3198	Hunt	D	1,360,300	1,360,300	no
2543	Hunter	D	230,000	1,730,000	no
3067	Kirby	D	29,920	29,920	no
2941	Moeller	D	990,810	990,810	no
1011	Moeller	D	11,250	11,250	no
2640	Morrell	D	61,290,000,000	61,290,000,000	no
2693	Morrell	D	4,038,000	15,901,071	no
2600	Morrell	D	1,542,000	1,542,000	no
2513	Morris	D	141,000	141,000	no
1273	Roach	R	3,418,100	3,418,100	yes
3040	Roach	R	22,900	22,900	no
3118	Rolfes	D	1,139,800	1,139,800	no
2862	Simpson	D	29,680,995	29,680,995	no
3110	Simpson	D	16,866,000	16,866,000	no
2687	Sommers	D	605,972,711	605,972,711	yes
3381	Sommers	D	763,279,000	53,084,088	yes
3132	Springer	D	4,277,875	4,277,875	no
3069	Wallace	D	22,500	741,420	no
3347	Williams	D	12,169,092	12,169,092	no
	Total:		$98,784,865,834	$98,120,308,649