Low taxes are a good thing. A special tax break for one powerful company is a bad thing. Washington’s state government did a bad, bad thing.
The Boeing Co. was the beneficiary of a deal to end all deals this past weekend, when the Washington Legislature voted to extend $8.7 billion in tax breaks to the aircraft manufacturer stretching out 27 years until 2040. Gov. Jay Inslee signed the tax breaks into law Monday at the Museum of Flight.
“This is the biggest tax subsidy in U.S. history,” said Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit which tracks so called “Megadeals” in which states offer sweeteners to major corporations.
“Nothing is near this deal: The fact it took place in days is breathtaking,” LeRoy added. “This deal happens in the state that already has the most regressive tax code in the nation.”
Blame Governor Jay Inslee, a Democrat; blame almost every state lawmaker of both parties, in fact. The giant tax giveaway passed the state senate by a vote of 42–2 on Saturday; the state house passed the measure by a vote of 75–11.
This is one of the reasons “bipartisanship” is vastly overrated.