Association salutes pro-retail state legislators
OLYMPIA - The Washington Retail Association wishes to thank 19 state legislators who fully supported its efforts to reduce financial burdens on retailers and consumers during the 2009 and 2010 Legislative sessions.
Since the peak of retail employment statewide of more than 331,000 at the end of 2007, about 27,000 retail jobs have been eliminated in the recession.
As economic conditions worsened the past two years, the 19 legislators WRA salutes today voted to oppose the Legislature’s maneuver that wiped out a two-thirds majority requirement to approve new taxes. They then voted against $800 million in new taxes the Legislature approved that have increased the cost of bottled water, soft drinks, beer, candy, gum and cigarettes. These new costs ignore government spending cuts the Legislature could have made and made it more difficult to buy and sell these products. These taxes hurt consumers and endanger the futures of retailers struggling to survive the damage already done by the recession.
“Members of WRA appreciate those legislators who stuck with us in these tough economic times,” said Mark Johnson, WRA’s Vice President of Government Affairs. “They resisted the temptation to increase taxes that can only hurt retailers struggling to survive the recession.”
Legislators who distinguished themselves by showing 100 percent support for WRA’s efforts to reduce taxes and control costly government regulation are:
In the Senate, Randi Becker (Eatonville) , Dale Brandland (Bellingham), Mike Carrell (Lakewood), Jerome Delvin (Richland), Jim Honeyford (Sunnyside) , Curtis King (Yakima), Bob McCaslin (Veradale), Linda Evans Parlette (Wenatchee), Cheryl Pflug (Issaquah), Mark Schoesler (Ritzville), and Val Stevens (Arlington).
In the House of Representatives, Mike Armstrong (Wenatchee), Bruce Chandler (Granger), Doug Ericksen (Bellingham), Dan Kristiansen (Snohomish), Jim McCune (Graham), Kirk Pearson (Monroe), Matt Shea (Otis Orchards) and David Taylor (Moxee).
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