Habib’s tax proposal will ‘punish’ top Eastside companies | Letter to the Editor

Published 12:58 pm Friday, October 19, 2012

How can we fix our state’s economy? Increase taxes. Specifically on technology including Eastside employers Microsoft and Google. That is Democrat legislative candidate Cyrus Habib’s proposal.

Here are Habib’s own words.

When asked how he would support big spending increases in state government, he wrote that our innovation economy is making a “sales tax on goods entirely inadequate.” His solution? He says “we are collecting virtually no sales tax revenue from online purchases,” and goes on to say that we need to increase taxes on “smart phones” and the “knowledge-based economy.”

Of course, this is simply false. We pay sales taxes on every online purchase we make from Amazon, Microsoft, Google and other innovative companies that have been so important to the Eastside. Think about how many families and people you know which are affected directly because of these employment centers — just think about it for a moment.

Habib went on to say that when considering new taxes “we should take nothing off the table.” Nothing. This means more taxes on Microsoft and Google; a state income tax; higher taxes on small business — all of them are on the table.

It’s no wonder Habib opposes voter-approved limits on tax increases and even promised that if they pass for the fourth time, he would, again in his own words, “fight hard for its repeal.”

At a time when we need economic growth and jobs, why would we support someone like Cyrus Habib who will punish the very companies that are at the heart of the Eastside’s economic leadership?

Sally Chen, Redmond