Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama, on the tax package the state House approved yesterday:

"I would challenge anyone to show me how you can take $800 million ... out of the economy and expect the economy to improve."

The state has already slashed services—it has for several years running—and the new taxes, on things like beer, water, soda pop and candy, is going to help make some of those cuts a little less draconian. Olympia isn't heating the state capitol with these new revenues; state Dems aren't going to be shoveling cash into incinerators under the governor's mansion. This money is going to be spent—spent in Washington state—and it's going to pay the salaries of state workers. Teachers, cops, health care workers and others whose jobs will be spared/saved thanks to these new revenues are going to turn around and pay rent, buy groceries, and spend on goods and services right here in Washington state. So the money being raised by these new taxes isn't, per Kalama's dimmest, being taken "out of the economy." It's being plowed right back into the economy.