And In This Corner...

The State of Washington, like many different states today, has found itself in a very difficult financial position. The members of the govern ring party of this state all claim that they had nothing to do with an out of control budget, it seems to fall into the category of “the dog ate my homework”. Governor Chris Gregoire has promised to bring the current budget into line with a series of taxes that give new meaning to the word usury.

One of her budget cuts was to increase tuition cost up to seven percent at the state universities. After that increase and several other state wide increased taxes and fees she found that the budget was still out of hand. The Governor then cut the budget thirteen percent for the state’s four year universities. She then made very vocal political promises that she was not going to further increase the fees or taxes on the students of the universities in the state.

In the first week of March she proposed that students pay a temporary surcharge during the next two years to help make up for higher education budget cuts. Sen. Joe Zarelli, the ranking Republican on the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said that sounds like a tax or fee to him, but the governor’s office disagrees. “We don’t view it as a fee. We view it as a temporary charge in lieu of greater tuition increases,” said Pearse Edwards, the governor’s spokesman. “It’s supplemental and temporary.”

It would appear that we have revisited that famous phrase “it depends on what your definition of is is”. In the state capitol of Olympia a surcharge doesn’t seem to be the same as a tax or a fee. Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language looks at Olympia’s definition differently: TAX-a burdensome charge, obligation, duty, or demand, FEE-a charge in payment for professional services, SURCHARGE-an additional charge, tax, or cost.
The blame can only be placed where it belongs, over two centuries as a country and we still believe what politicians choose to tell us. It is our fault, we elected them. In the immortal words of Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”