OLYMPIA — History suggests Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has little chance of pushing through his proposal to pump an additional $1.2 billion into education by closing tax breaks and extending existing taxes.

While lawmakers have talked for years about taking on tax exemptions to help pay for state services, they’ve never gotten far. Industries benefiting from breaks have proved very adept at killing such proposals.

This session, the hurdle may be even higher.

Inslee and fellow Democrats must persuade a tax-averse Senate majority — guided by Republicans for the first time in eight years — to take on exemptions such as the sales-tax break on bottled water, and turn “temporary” surcharges on beer and certain businesses into permanent increases. read more »

OLYMPIA — A new poll showing most voters oppose additional transportation taxes highlights the hurdles lawmakers face when it comes to finding more money for highways and transit.

A Stuart Elway poll of 412 registered voters found that 72 percent oppose a higher gas tax and

62 percent oppose an increase in the car tab. The poll has a margin of error of 5 percentage points, plus or minus.

Those two taxes would provide most of the revenue in a nearly $10 billion transportation plan proposed by House Democrats last month, with the state gas tax already among the highest in the nation, rising to 47.5 cents within five years. read more »

The Washington governor’s race will cost more than $46 million by the time the election is over, with the single biggest share of spending coming from out-of-state interest groups.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Rob McKenna and Democrat Jay Inslee have raised about $25 million combined, and an additional $21 million has been thrown in by independent expenditure campaigns, most of which came from out of state.

The national Republican Governors Association (RGA), based in Washington, D.C., was the biggest single player for McKenna, raising nearly $11.4 million and spending all but $1 million of that amount as of last week, largely on television ads attacking Inslee. read more »