This is as good as it gets

In this season of giving, let us be courageous as well as generous in investing in Washington’s future. Governor Jay Inslee’s new budget will be considered by the state legislature in January. It proposes billions of new dollars in spending for educating our kids and our college students, saving orcas from extinction and ourselves from opioid addiction, committing to human services and the behavioral health care system and combating climate change.

Paying to bring Washington into a civilized 21st century future depends on new taxes: enacting a capital gains tax, increasing the state business and occupation tax on targeted services and reforming the estate excise tax, making it progressive.

This is where being brave comes in.

The argument for decades has been for limited government, leaving dollars in – mostly our richest – citizens’ pockets.

That has resulted not in necessary government but a starved government. Some folks think the top goal is always creating smaller budgets.

The goal, actually, is first collective survival and then community sustainability. Town Council and Mayor Hayes want to move the dike project forward, but the tax base isn’t high enough for paying for it soon.

At the state level, Gov. Inslee seeks relative rapid movement while the economy is still strong. Don’t blame him for proposing higher taxes. It is time to get past the higher taxes bad, lower taxes good, stage of our social and shared development.

The cliché is there is no free lunch. The truth is, you get what you pay for.

How much are the lives of 74 orcas worth? No amount of money will bring back a species after its extinction. Will we put ourselves in the camp of “we chose” – and it is a choice – to not spend funds that would have saved the orcas, because, because why? It raised taxes?

Will we choose to not continue the uphill fight for sustained funding for public education – meeting our state’s constitutional mandate – because creating an adequate educational system is a constant investment?

Will we help, or not, those addicted to opioids, those needing long term mental health care and those falling through a safety net that does not ensure their safety?

Take a deep breath and look around. Today might be as good as it gets. Tomorrow the state legislature, representing us, may decide to dedicate state resources to fight climate change with drastic measures, including higher taxes and increased government programs.

Firefighters combating catastrophic blazes are a government expense against climate change. Place that spending in the too little too late category.

It is hard being civilized. It is hard being grown up. It is a steep uphill climb to saving life as we know it.

The easy phase of our life in the 21st century, the petroleum economy, the whistling while walking past the graveyard, is over, whether we fund our future or not.