Income tax? Senate leader eyes referendum

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In the waning days of the Washington legislative session, with majority Democrats still struggling over a tax plan to plug a $2.8 billion budget hole, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown has re-surfaced her proposal for a public vote on a state income tax on high wage earners. The Spokane Democrat, who has been touted as a possible gubernatorial candidate, says the Legislature should pass the Senate's plan to boost the state sales tax by three-tenths of a cent, to 6.8 cents on the dollar. She then would give state voters a chance to lower the sales tax to 6 cents, in exchange for a 4.5 percent income tax on earnings of over $200,000 for singles and over $400,000 for married couples. A hastily called Senate budget committee hearing was scheduled for Senate Bill 6250. Republicans said the income tax would require a constitutional amendment, meaning it would require a next-to-impossible two-thirds vote in both houses to place the issue on the fall ballot. Democrats believe a simple majority would suffice. A citizen initiative on the same subject has been introduced.