Jesse Young will tell anyone who will listens how he is opposed to any new taxes. Jesse uses “the elderly widow living on a fixed income” strawman to somehow justify that billionaires pay a smaller percentage than anyone else. He has long and loudly proclaimed “No New Taxes” and that property and B&O taxes were unfair.
We can all agree our Washington tax system has become overly complicated and unfairly burdens many residents — we have the most regressive in the country. This is why last year ESHB 1109 provided almost $2 million dollars for a Tax Structure Work Group to analyze various tax alternatives to our current tax structure and the impacts on various taxpayer groups. They could literally recommend wiping every tax off the books and starting over with a tax structure that is fair to all Washingtonians.
Despite his seniority in the Legislature, Jesse has never been entrusted with leadership positions. Finally, Jesse was appointed to this Work Group by the GOP – the opportunity of his legislative career.
Let’s examine his contribution to this work group thus far.
The group has met four times, yet he has provided no input or made any valuable suggestions to fix our flawed tax code. Young’s only comment to this committee came in the Oct 9. 2020 meeting during a discussion of Intangible Property Tax. He said he “was curious about Social Media”, wanting to know if they could put a tax on social media.
Rather than finding changes to our regressive tax code, his sole contribution to this serious study group was to suggest a Social Media Tax.
True leaders offer ideas, ask questions, and become part of the solution. After years of complaining, Jesse has failed in his first opportunity at leadership. It’s time for Jesse to take a seat with Tim Eyman on the sidelines and let others fix the problems.
We need new leadership in the 26th LD in Olympia.
https://dor.wa.gov/about/tax-structure-work-group/meeting-dates-and-material
Dec 3, 2019 - (prior Covid) meeting in Olympia – Jesse attended via phone
watch
April 2, 2020 – Jesse attended virtual meeting
watch
July 17, 2020 – Jesse attended virtual meeting
watch
Oct 9, 2020 – Jesse attended virtual meeting
(Link to be added when available)