The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

If Benjamin Franklin was right, then we can be certain of only two things in life: death & taxes. And yet Washington citizens remain uncertain about our state’s pending budget and the potential tax hikes likely to be requested to pay for the ever-expanding government obligations, including mounting education, homelessness, and mental health needs.

Few things are more frustrating to tax-payers than the bait-and-switch from politicians that occurs when local, state and federal legislators identify a legitimate need, impose a new tax to pay for it, and then turn around and spend that money e...