Protecting Polluters?
Blog Post on Sightline Daily's The Daily Score Blog.
"The Seattle Times is opposing an increase to Washington's hazardous substance tax, for two reasons:
1. The tax applies to hazardous substances that are manufactured in Washington but sold out-of-state;
2. In the next couple of years, not all of the money will go to clean up pollution.
Let's take these one at a time.
First, the reason it's a good idea to tax hazardous substances manufactured in Washington is because they tend to harm Washington. Texas-based Tesoro Corporation, which operates a refinery near Anacortes, is a major opponent of a bill that would increase the tax, in large part because the company is one of the state's major polluters. They argue that paying a higher pollution tax in Washington would put them at a competitive disadvantage when they sell their products out of state...."
