An income tax vote is an awful idea

THE 11th-hour proposal out of Olympia for a fall vote on an income tax is a truly awful idea.

Maybe it was inspired by fatigue, stress or a lame attempt at wonky humor, but it is completely without political or economic merit.

Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown's curious trial balloon is most certainly a lead balloon. With any luck, this wretched idea will be history by the time this editorial is in print and circulating in the ether. The Legislature is supposed to wrap up this week and has serious business to finish.

The tax measure is a mix of desperation and splashes of bribery and extortion. The 4.5-percent tax would only be levied on incomes of more than $200,000 for individuals, $300,000 for heads of households and $400,000 for married couples. Vote for an income tax on those people and the state sales tax would drop a penny.

First of all, even asking the question assumes voters are chumps. Oh, yes indeed, the income tax would forever and all time only be levied against those people. No chance at all Washington taxpayers would ever end up with both taxes!

Second, Oregon is invoked for odd reasons. Nice place, pretty state, but hardly a model of astute public finance and economic development. Oregonians used to argue the state should scrap its income tax in favor of a sales tax, because people who locate new businesses avoid income-tax states. The grass is always greener.

The Legislature's remaining energy is best used to cinch down the budget, tweak taxes, be mindful of encouraging private-sector jobs and promoting the engines of job growth, especially higher education.

Springing this kind of idea at the last minute is not leadership or credible public policy.