Friends and neighbors,
Like you, I’m concerned about the rising cost of food, consumer goods, and household necessities. While the economy improved as a whole, and unemployment is low, many local families still struggle to make ends meet each month. Some of these price hikes have been caused by supply chain bottlenecks, highlighting how severe the affordability crisis is.
As your representative, one of my most important jobs is to help families become more financially stable. I’ve worked hard this legislative session to help families and businesses in both the short term and for years to come.
Supporting Local Businesses
(Credit: LSS Photography)
House Bill 2018 is critical for the small businesses and families that make our communities strong. It grants a holiday from sales tax on Labor Day Weekend.
September is often challenging for working families. Back-to-school costs make it difficult to pay bills and put food on the table. With the passage of this legislation, there will be no sales tax this year from Sep. 3 to Sep. 5 for certain items that cost $1,000 or less, including clothing, school supplies, computers, energy-efficient appliances, and other goods.
Creating a Labor Day weekend exemption from sales tax will help those families who are struggling most and will help us support local businesses in our community.
I also think it is important to note that much of the increased burden placed on individuals and families is due to corporate greed. CEO pay is escalating right along with the cost of food and consumer goods. It’s unacceptable that corporations are happy to grow their profits on the backs of working Americans.
On the other hand, small business owners in our community face many of the same challenges we do—paying bills, finding money to care for family members, and putting food on the table. So, instead of rewarding the bad behavior of Wall Street CEOs and corporations, reward your community by shopping at your local Main Street—and by supporting your local retailers.
Reducing the Cost of Health Care
As a state, we must do more to lower health care costs. I’m especially proud of our work to rein in the costs of prescription drugs like insulin. This session, I co-sponsored House Bill 1671, which helps reduce the prices of prescription drugs that corporations keep artificially high to boost profits. Most patients don’t have any other choice than to purchase these essential medications, and corporations take advantage of this by setting arbitrarily high prices.
In the House, we also protected consumers from surprise billings after a visit to the emergency room (House Bill 1688) and expanded access to free and reduced-cost healthcare for 2.2 million Washingtonians (House Bill 1616).
As always, it’s an honor to serve as your representative. Together, we can come out of this pandemic stronger than before. You can count on me to work tirelessly for the support our community needs.
Thank you,
Rep. Dave Paul