Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Washington state senate is writing a budget that calls for cuts 60-percent beyond what Governor Chris Gregoire proposed back in December. T

hat’s the word Thursday from Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown of Spokane. But Brown clearly believes an all cuts budget will be too draconian.

So she’s talking more openly about a tax increase to help balance the budget. The problem she says: Washington’s current tax structure is regressive and that makes it hard to know what tax to raise.

Brown: "I don’t see a major overhaul of the tax structure coming in the middle of a recession but it does make it really complicated to raise revenue without raising it from people who are already paying arguably more than their fair share."

Washington is a sales tax dependent state with no income tax. That means lower income workers pay a greater percentage of their earnings in taxes than wealthier residents.

But so far there seems to be no appetite for an income tax in Washington. Republicans maintain the state’s $8-billion shortfall can be solved with cuts alone.