And just when you got over the shock of your property tax bill

By Highlands Community Council

The state Democrats and Governor Gregoire are doing it to us again.

They passed a bill that will allow the Renton School District to increase our property taxes once again through levies.

There’s also a dirty little secret that the Renton School District does not want you to know.  What is it?  We’ll let the cat out of the bag in a future post.  Stay tuned.

Many people that vote for these levies may not realize that it directly affects their rent.  Just because you live in an apartment or rental home, the property taxes for that building will go up.  You may not see the increase until your lease is up, but you will feel the impact.

Maybe the Renton School District should figure it out that building new schools does not always improve test scores.

The Renton School District needs to get a backbone and start disciplining kids that act up in class.  They should ban cell phones from being used during class and be thankful to the parents of private and home school kids that are paying for education TWICE!  Once through their property taxes and again through their tuition and school supplies they must purchase.  They are literally giving the Renton School District thousands of dollars per month for services they don’t use.

Renton used to have good schools.  Many families in the late 60’s and early 70’s moved here to get away from the Seattle school district.  A trend that continues today.  Just look at the enrollment numbers for the Seattle School district.

Back in 80’s the Renton School District even closed some neighborhood schools due to declining enrollment.

They have now replaced just about every elementary school in the City of Renton but yet the test scores don’t seem to show any improvement.  Where’s the problem?

The problem is we have a group of people running the City of  Renton and the Renton School District that don’t care about the people, they only care about their power.

Remember this when the next election rolls around.  Do your homework.  Be certain you understand where your elected officials stand on issues important to you and don’t simply vote for them because “things seem to be going okay”.

• Look at your property taxes.  They’ve gone up.  Have you services improved that much?
• Look at your sales tax. It’s gone up. Do you get more out of the City of Renton with each tax increase?
• Look at your income tax.  Oh wait, we’re not all paying that yet…but we will.
• Look at your cell phone tax. It’s gone up. Does you cell phone work better?
• Look atyour utility tax.  It’s gone up.  And don’t forget there are additional taxes buried in there you don’t even see. Now we collect garbage every other week but yet we pay more.

Bottom line is the City of Renton, the Renton School District, King County and the State of Washington need to figure it out that businesses are leaving and will continue to until we get control of the spending in this state.  That means jobs go away and the people start to follow.

They can’t keep sucking the taxpayers dry.  Eventually enough people will wake up and realize they are being shammed.

Off our soap box.  Here’s the story that put us over the edge.

Legislature OKs schools raise more through levies

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State lawmakers passed a bundle of major education reforms Thursday, including a plan that should help the state compete for the Obama administration’s $4.35 billion Race to the Top program.

The education bills were the last major measures approved by the Democrat-led House and Senate on the final day of the 60-day regular session. They will be returning Monday for a special session to finish work on the state budget, but lawmakers were trumpeted the education agenda as a significant step forward.

Read the rest of the story at KOMONews.com.

Sales tax appears to be falling off as Democrats’ option

By Highlands Community Council

But yet Frank Chopp wants a “toxic materials tax”?  Does he not realize that that by jacking up the tax on oil it will impact everyone?

Are we noticing a theme here?  The Democrats are in an all out push to ram tax increases down our throats.  They don’t get it.  Cut spending.  Families across the state have had to do that.  It’s time to put Olympia on a diet.  If they don’t lose the pounds, we’ll toss them out just like they do on The Biggest Loser.

Posted By Brad Shannon on March 1, 2010 at 9:56 am at The News Tribune.

We’ll know more by noon, but polling done for the House Democratic Campaign Committee showed only 28 percent voter support for using a sales-tax to bridge a piece of the state’s $2.8 billion budget shortfall.

Democratic Rep. Ross Hunter of Medina is laying out his tax plans during the lunch hour. He’ll add to the roughly $385 million that his tax-loopholes bill, House Bill 3176, would raise. But he was mum about details yesterday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Rep. Sam Hunt, the Olympia Democrat who chairs the HDCC, said yesterday the poll results are a reason he is now leaning against the sales tax. Hunt did not share other poll results but they were part of a discussion House Democrats had as a caucus Thursday night.

Read the rest of Brad’s post at The News Tribune.

Democrats take an ax to state ethics board

By Highlands Community Council

This post comes courtesy of the Seattle Times.

At this point, there’s not question that the Democrats in Olympia are going for broke.  They know they are going to get voted out in November so they are trying to ram everything they can through now.  Don’t let them forget what they’ve done to us come November.

Posted by Jim Brunner

OLYMPIA — Democrats on the House Ways & Means Committee this afternoon voted to eliminate funding for a state ethics watchdog.

The Washington State Executive Ethics Board investigates complaints against public employees accused of misusing state computers and other resources. It also trains state workers on ethics rules.

But in voting to ax the board’s $492,000 budget for 2011, some House Democrats said they don’t think the panel is particularly busy and could be sacrificed given the state budget crisis.

The ethics panel’s money comes out of Attorney General Rob McKenna’s budget.

Read the rest of the story at Seattle Times.

House Democrats target bottled water, banks in new tax plan

By Highlands Community Council

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State House Democrats want to raise about $760 million in taxes by closing a long list of sales and business tax exemptions and collecting more money from smokers, bankers, lawyers and accountants.

The House tax plan, announced Monday, is the latest of three proposals from state leaders as they seek to bridge a $2.8 billion state budget deficit

Read the rest of the story at KOMONews.com.

Raise taxes? They don’t get it. How about cut spending for a change?

By Highlands Community Council

Keep in mind while your read/watch this.  Have you EVER seen sales tax go down?

Senate Democrats: It’s time for a sales tax hike

By CURT WOODWARD Associated Press Writer

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) - State Senate Democrats want to temporarily raise the sales tax by three-tenths of a penny, hike the cigarette tax by $1 per pack and close a long list of tax exemptions to help balance the state budget.

The Senate’s budget proposal, revealed Tuesday morning, calls for about $920 million in additional tax revenue to help solve the state’s $2.8 billion budget deficit.

The tax plan is larger than one proposed last week by Democratic Gov. Chris Gregoire but smaller than what many education and social service advocates have been pleading for since the legislative session began.

Read the rest of the Democrats “solution” at KOMONews.com.