Generating More Revenue to Balance the Budget
The LPPO just set its 2010 Legislative Agenda:
- Support a revenue package to prevent an all-cuts budget
- Support eliminating tax exemptions
- Eliminate the requirement of I-960
View our new congregational resource: “Understanding the State Budget: A Moral Document”
Why should people of faith be concerned about our budget?
- We are called by God to be faithful citizens in the world.
- We are called by God to be faithful advocates for justice so that the injustices of hunger, poverty, and homelessness will be eliminated.
- The state budget affects all who reside in this state.
- The state budget particularly affects the lives of the poor, hungry, and homeless.
- The tax structure, by which the state budget is funded, is a moral issue; as well as the budget itself.
The difficulty of balancing the budget:
- The total of our state budget is $31 billion.
- The governor and legislature face an almost $3 billion revenue shortfall.
- Almost $22 billion is protected from state and federal constitutional mandates; e.g. K-12 education, Medicaid and Higher Education.
- The governor and legislature must cut almost $3 billion out of $9 billion from the unprotected part of the budget which is primarily made up of health & human services (DSHS), natural resources, and Dept. of Corrections. This is on top of $3 billion in cuts made last session; e.g. Basic Health Plan (health care for low income adults) was cut 43%.
What can faith advocates do?
- An all cuts approach to balancing the budget is morally intolerable because more in our state will go hungry, homeless, and without health care – this is not the kind of state we want to live in.
- A revenue package will need to be put together to prevent elimination of critical health and human service, education, and environmental programs.
- Let your three legislators and the governor know you understand the difficult decisions they will have to make in order to balance the budget, but that you support a substantial revenue package to prevent elimination of critical safety net programs. Use the toll-free legislative hotline: 1-800-562-6000. Please publicize this number in your congregation and neighborhood.
This session, we’ll be working with several community partners to Generate More Revenue to Balance the Budget. Visit some of their websites:
Washington State Budget and Policy Center
Economic Opportunity Institute
Washington Association of Churches
Church Council of Greater Seattle