VANCOUVER… Washington taxpayers who wonder what the new state income-tax bill really means for them didn’t get any answers from the signing of the legislation today, says Sen. Lynda Wilson.

Wilson, R-Vancouver and Senate Republican budget leader, made this statement following the ceremonial signing of Senate Bill 5096, the income-tax bill, and House Bill 1297, the Working Families Tax Exemption.

“Today the governor stuck with the misleading, partisan messaging about SB 5096, calling it an ‘excise tax’ that will pay for early learning and child care. The truth is, this is a new tax on one type of personal income – meaning an income tax, not an excise tax – with no guarantee how the money will be used. On top of that, this $500 million tax is unnecessary because state government had plenty of revenue already. And even worse, it’s highly volatile and unconstitutional!

“If the governor was being forthright, he would have explained that this bill is a partisan effort to get the current state Supreme Court to reverse decades of precedent and clear the path for a full-blown income tax – a tax our state has never had, doesn’t need and doesn’t want. It’s nothing to celebrate.”

“I’m glad to see the tax relief for working families become a reality after so many years. The trouble is, the Democrats could have followed the example in our Senate Republican budget proposal and funded that tax relief using available revenue, without putting a larger burden on those same working families. Instead, those families will end up paying even more because the Democrats approved an energy tax and the high-cost fuel standard. There’s nothing progressive about that.”