By Jesse Piedfort, Washington state Sierra Club Chapter Director
Last week, Washington State issued an updated revenue forecast showing a nearly $9 billion projected state budget deficit over the next three years, including a $4.5 billion deficit through June 2021.
This harsh reality of the COVID-19 economic downturn leaves state lawmakers with a stark choice. They can impose a brutal austerity regime on Washington’s budget, harming Washingtonians with devastating cuts in vital services and more job losses that will exacerbate our economic downturn. Or they can choose a different, more responsible path.
That’s why Sierra Club just joined more than 70 community organizations in the Balance Our Tax Code coalition in signing a letter rejecting the austerity approach and calling for new progressive revenue sources to fix our budget crisis.
New revenue will be essential not only to balancing our state budget, but to protecting our environmental and climate agenda. Following this year’s legislative session and facing the looming downturn, Governor Inslee cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the state operating budget, including $50 million in hard-won funding for state agencies to pursue climate mitigation projects. This isn’t an example of “trimming the fat” from the budget; these are critical up-front investments necessary to chart a sustainable long-term course for Washington.
Without action from the legislature on revenue, that $50 million will be just the tip of the iceberg. The list of priority environmental programs that rely on state revenue is extensive; funding for everything from state parks to clean energy projects to wildlife protection could be at risk. Key projects could be canceled, and state environmental and natural resource agencies will find themselves understaffed, complicating efforts to move the state off fossil fuels and protect our lands, water, and wildlife.
These cuts would come at a time when our local communities need more state support - not less. One example is the severe funding shortfall facing our local transit agencies. Transit is both a key climate strategy and a critical service connecting people with essential jobs and vital services. Without new state or federal support, local transit agencies will be decimated.
The fiscal situation facing state legislators is in large part one of their own making. The very real public health crisis of COVID-19 has led to an unprecedented drop in consumer spending, as businesses rightly closed to protect public health. But our state has chosen, by rejecting calls for new revenue and tax reform year after year, a tax system that disproportionately relies on sales tax revenue more than any state in the country. State leaders’ failure to act has left Washington especially - and needlessly - vulnerable to this kind of economic shock.
Sierra Club and our members and supporters will continue to advocate for environmental priorities in Olympia. But without new revenue, legislators would have advocates from across the state all fighting for scraps while some of the world’s wealthiest businesses and individuals enjoy a low tax status quo.
The choice now facing lawmakers is clear. Saying no to progressive revenue options would mean deliberately prioritizing austerity and low taxes for the wealthiest over climate justice and every other critical priority Washingtonians need. Failing to act to fix our broken tax system is simply no longer an option.