Seattle Forward

January City Inside/Out: Council Edition

Earlier this month I joined Councilmembers Bagshaw and O'Brien and host Brian Callanan on the Seattle Channel to talk about Bertha, encampments and public safety issues. You can watch the video below.

The False Promise of the Death Penalty

Two high-profile death penalty trials are underway in King County Superior Court: the 2009 assassination of Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton and the 2007 Christmas Eve mass murders of three generations of the Anderson family in Carnation. Both crimes were horrific, senseless acts of hatred and violence that caused incredibly searing pain, suffering and loss for the victims’ families, friends, neighbors and the broader community.

But, the death penalty delivers nothing more than a false promise.

I was a Seattle police officer in the 1970s. I spent many nights in my patrol car doing exactly what Officer Brenton and his partner, Britt Sweeney, were doing when they were shot. As a Councilmember, I went to Harborview the night Officer Brenton died. I spoke briefly with Officer Sweeney. The targeted murder of Officer Brenton strikes a deep chord of grief within me. As a father of three and grandfather of two, the slaying of the Andersons does the same.

I want swift and certain justice delivered to their killers, but the death penalty won’t provide that swiftness or certainty.

Some people believe they are safer because of the death penalty; they’re not. 

Our State’s Regressive Tax Structure

Washington State continues to earn dubious distinctions in the world of tax policy.

The latest report on state taxes comes from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which ranked Washington’s tax structure as the most regressive in the nation. The Institute found that those earning less than $21,000 a year (the lowest 20% income group) pay 16.8% of income in state and local taxes here while the top 1% of earners pay only 2.4%. Take a look at the report’s executive summary or its complete breakdown of Washington’s tax system.

The New York Times also has an interesting analysis of this report, including a look into what is considered a “fair” system. It cites a survey by the company WalletHub, which tried to determine how conservatives and liberals view fairness when it comes to taxes. Both groups seemed to value the idea that those with higher incomes should pay a higher share. The result is that Washington State ranks dead last in terms of fairness on both the liberal and conservative scales.

As I’ve written before, our state’s tax structure needs a serious overhaul. Local economist Dick Conway has an excellent white paper that compares tax structures based on five principles: fairness, adequacy, stability, transparency, and economic vitality. He concludes that a state income tax would perform better than our current system on the first four measures and would not have an impact on the fifth.

For those who would argue against an income tax, remember we already have a corporate income tax on gross income (the business and occupation tax). Taxing gross income instead of net income makes no sense to me.

Our state should eliminate the current business and occupation taxes, institute a personal and corporate income tax on net income, and reduce our regressive sales and property taxes. Apparently liberals and conservatives agree that this would be a fairer approach.

On State and Local Marijuana Regulation

Earlier this week City Attorney Holmes released a very helpful summary of the current status of marijuana regulations in Washington State. He also includes his recommendations for a single, integrated regulatory framework at the State level that provides access to products for medical patients and recreational users. The State Legislature will have to tackle this issue (among many others) in the upcoming legislative session in Olympia.

Like our City Attorney, I support the creation of a single, state-regulated system that meets the needs of both medical patients and adult recreational users. I do not believe that the City should get out in front and adopt any new regulations for medical marijuana ahead of action by the State Legislature. Such a step would send confusing messages to the provider and patient communities and our legislators.

Instead, we should focus our current enforcement tools—including civil forfeiture of products—on the worst illegitimate actors in today’s market. I appreciate the Mayor’s announcement last month to step up the City’s enforcement efforts on delivery operations and dispensaries operating without a business license.

The longer the City delays in enforcing current laws related to commercial production and distribution of marijuana the greater the risk that (1) the I-502 framework will be undercut and, frankly, ruined; (2) criminal enterprises will become entrenched and more difficult to dislodge; and (3) public support of the policy objectives of I-502 will wane.