Economic downturn anxieties lead Washington lawmakers to ask: To tax or not to tax?

A debate is brewing in Olympia over how to prepare for a potential economic downturn.

Republican lawmakers want to pass more tax breaks for businesses and cancel the state’s payroll tax. But Gov. Inslee says Washington can afford new programs to pay for homeless services and mental health facilities.

"Looking forward we still have a very robust economy, it's the envy of the United States, we still have gangbuster industries doing very, very well and I believe there is a reason that that will continue," Inslee said while speaking with TVW's Austin Jenkins.

Inslee's budget is a 12% increase over current spending, despite anxieties over inflation and economic downturns. But the governor says the state also has $2 billion in reserves as a cushion. He further argues that the state plans to give a tax break to some residents (the Working Family Tax credit), but no general tax cuts. Also, the state still has considerable issues to address, which "demand investments."

"We are giving a tax break to 400,000 people who are the most in-need of these tax breaks," he said. "With all due respect to our billionaires, they do not need a tax cut right now in the state of Washington. And when you give a general tax cut, you give tax breaks to billionaires in the state of Washington."

"We have a homelessness crisis and we have to respond, in our state, to this homelessness crisis ... we are not satisfying with having endemic squalor in our communities."

The legislative session begins Jan. 9.

Gov. Inslee commented on the upcoming session while speaking with Austin Jenkins on TVW's "Inside Olympia."