Oregon Public Broadcasting

A budget-balancing tax hike appears increasingly likely to come before Washington voters in June or November.

Thursday lawmakers got the news that state revenues are down another half billion dollars. That means Washington’s deficit for the next two years is now approaching $9 billion.

Senator Rodney Tom is a key Democrat on the budget committee. He says Democrats are writing an all-cuts budget, but he doesn’t believe that will be the end of the story.

Rodney Tom: “I think there will be a revenue package to the voters, but again we are building this budget based strictly on an all-cuts budget and if the voters approve it, here’s what they’re gonna buy back – we haven’t had the talks as far as what are those specific things that they’re going to be buying back.”

Tom says the Senate is looking at more than $4 billion worth of program cuts. The rest of the deficit would be filled with such things as federal stimulus dollars and one time savings.

Minority Republicans in the legislature say Democrats have made the budget problem worse by not making deep cuts sooner. Republicans also remain steadfastly opposed to sending a tax package to voters.