« Prev

Slog

Next »

And Another Resignation in the State House

David Postman reports that Seattle Rep. Jim McIntire (D-46), a black sheep in the Dem caucus because he adamantly supported a state income tax, says he’s running for state treasurer next year instead of seeking reelection to the legislature.

There were some fireworks last year when McIntire lost his position as the chair of the House Finance Committee. McIntire attributed the demotion to his outspoken stance on the income tax.

As I reported earlier this year:

Chopp was true to his word. One of his first moves after the Doubletree meeting was to take the Finance Committee chairmanship away from progressive tax reformer Representative Jim McIntire (D-46, North Seattle), a dogged advocate of the longstanding progressive demand for an income tax. “It was pretty clear that Frank did not like the fact that I was out there talking about income taxes,” McIntire says.

UPDATE! (From ECB): Longtime chair of the 46th District Democrats Scott White has announced that he’s running for McIntire’s seat. White has obviously been planning this move for a while; his list of “early endorsers” already includes state Sen. Ken Jacobsen, state Rep. Phyllis Kenney, King County Executive Ron Sims, City Council member Tom Rasmussen, and more than a dozen others.

Comments (18)

1

I guess the silver lining here is that being for a state income tax makes McIntire a "black sheep".

Good to see that even Democrats here in WA realize that the tax situation is a big draw for people to move/live here, and an income tax might trigger a bit of an exodus of productive folk.

Posted by JMR | September 4, 2007 5:00 PM
2

The opposite of what JMR @1 said. Man, is that frustrating. We're paying almost 10 percent sales tax. I wouldn't know where to begin crunching the numbers, but I would think even a 1% income tax would generate a good chunk of what our ridiculous sales tax does, no?

Posted by Levislade | September 4, 2007 5:08 PM
3

Problem is, Levislade, it won't stay a 1% tax. Count on it.

Posted by Lee Gibson | September 4, 2007 5:15 PM
4

@2

For one thing, no one would implement a 1% income tax - I think Pennsylvania is in the low 3% range and that's the lowest one I know off the top of my head.

Secondly, you're assuming the sales tax would drop precipitously upon implementation of an income tax. We are talking about politicians here.

Connecticut used to have no income tax and (I believe) a 7.5% sales tax. They implemented an income tax of about 4% and dropped the sales tax to 6%.


Posted by JMR | September 4, 2007 5:25 PM
5

Way to go, Scott! He'll be a fine state rep.

Posted by N in Seattle | September 4, 2007 5:28 PM
6

Don't you think your headline is a bit misleading? McIntire isn't resigning he's just not running for re-election.

Posted by cuyahoga | September 4, 2007 5:51 PM
7

I agree with N (and with Scott's many other endorsers). Scott will be an exceptional representative for the 46th. He has extensive political and governmental experience and real strategic savvy. Scott exemplifies strong Democratic values tempered by a get-things-done pragmatism.

He's not much of a poker player, however.

Posted by Sandeep Kaushik | September 4, 2007 6:11 PM
8

Blah blah Scott is superlative blah blah blah. I want to see his driver's license photo before I make any decisions, okay Stranger?

Posted by Katelyn | September 4, 2007 6:49 PM
9

Scott is fantastic, and I wish him the best.

Posted by Willis | September 4, 2007 7:19 PM
10

It's about time Scott White jumped into a race. Sky's the limit for that one.

Posted by loudmouthgal | September 4, 2007 9:17 PM
11

Congratulations, Scott for taking the plunge!

Posted by yay | September 4, 2007 10:08 PM
12

@2

WA state sales tax is only 6.5%. That extra 3.4% is King County & Seattle paying for bullshit stadiums etc.

Posted by Anon | September 4, 2007 10:33 PM
13

Scott White is a tool bag. He get's run out of his job as Council Chief of Staff due to piss poor politics and now wants to run for office -- nice -- the fool is totally plastic. Funny how he already has his so called friends filling blogs with ringing endorsements - just what is needed from Seattle, more spineless liberals.

Posted by loafofbread | September 4, 2007 10:55 PM
14

This simple-minded aversion to an income tax is yet another form of political retardation that keeps the wealthy laughing all the way to the bank.

Meanwhile, the working class meatheads who scream NO TAXES as their reply to anything, pay most of the expenses for our society.

Oh well, you can't change a dumbshit's mind - and they'd probably Just spend the money on booze or drugs anyway.

Posted by The Jokes on them | September 5, 2007 6:32 AM
15

Wow, you mean there is kind of an "establishment" Democratic machine here in North Seattle?
I am shocked, shocked.

Posted by Jill | September 5, 2007 6:36 AM
16

Since the income tax, at least a progressive one, is unconstitutional in WA, it would take a vote of the people and as part of the vote a limit on sales tax could be added to the language.

Posted by whatever | September 5, 2007 7:44 AM
17

#13: Scott didn't tell me to post. He just has a lot of friends who read SLOG, I guess.

#6: Thank you for that correction. Resigning makes it sound like he got busted for something. He's just not running for re-election.

Posted by yay | September 5, 2007 8:23 AM
18

@13: Scott White will do a great job in Oly. Can't stop the Scooter, dude.

Posted by J.R. | September 5, 2007 10:27 AM

Comments Closed

In order to combat spam, we are no longer accepting comments on this post (or any post more than 14 days old).