Hazardous Substance Tax Pt 1

Hazardous Substance Tax Pt 1

Bob Larson
Bob Larson
I'm Bob Larson. A new proposal to raise taxes on motor fuel nearly $1 billion over the next four years has being fast-tracked for approval by Democrats in the Senate.

Senate Bill 5993, which would quadruple the state's hazardous substance tax rate on oil products, was introduced Tuesday and heard Wednesday in the Senate Ways and Means Committee.

Senator Doug Ericksen says it's bad news for everyone ...

ERICKSEN ... "One of the things also about the Hazardous Substance Tax, as it's known, is it also applies to our farmers and when they see this hit them, it's going to be a gigantic tax increase on the agriculture in Washington state. So, this tax is very important to them because when this goes into place it's going to be a significant chunk of change and in the 10s if not 100s of millions of dollars of tax increases on those industries also."

Ericksen says petrochemicals are used everywhere, including agriculture ...

ERICKSEN ... "We have to realize that the petrochemicals are used everyday in our lives. We don't even realize all the places where we're using them and we're going to see price increases for all those things and this could be another item that drives agriculture out of Washington state."

And, the Ferndale Republican says, the voters in Washington have spoken ...

ERICKSEN ... "The people of Washington state, when they went to the polls last November and significantly voted down an energy tax, they thought this would be done for a while. But yet the Democrats are coming right back trying to implement not only that energy tax on gasoline, but all types of new taxes on energy on top of that."

Tune in tomorrow for more on the Hazardous Substance Tax and what it means to you.

The measure would impose a tax of $2.52 a barrel, equivalent to six cents a gallon. A vote has not yet been scheduled, but is expected soon.

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