OLYMPIA – If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. As is the case this week with the Senate Republican’s supposed “balanced” budget. Less than 24 hours after its release, it is already in the red by $45 million.
As part of their transportation reform demands, Senate Republicans want to transfer sales tax from transportation projects to the transportation budget. This leaves a $21 million hole in the state’s general fund for 2015-17 and a $60 million hole in the general fund in 2017-19.
For the Senate Republican operating budget to balance, it MUST account for this $81 million loss of revenue to the general fund. It does not. You can read the balance sheet here.
“These are the types of gimmicks that create an illusion that we can solve the state’s budget problems without looking at new revenue sources,” said Rep. Pat Sullivan. “Spending the same $81 million twice and hoping the public won’t notice is not a solution to our problems.”
On a similar note, one Republican Senator has claimed their budget includes an “infusion of $420 million” to reduce higher education tuition. As it turns out, that number is only $146 million when accounting for the $75 million they cut from the State Need Grant according to nonpartisan Senate committee staff, leaving 33,000 low-income students without financial aid.