OLYMPIA… Today Sen. Perry Dozier and his fellow Republican senators opposed the first round of major tax increases brought to the full Senate: a sales-tax increase that will hit lower- and middle-income families harder, a tax increase that will drive capital out of Washington, and a collection of unrelated tax increases that includes a new tax on self-storage rentals.

Dozier, R-Waitsburg, offered this statement after the Senate’s majority Democrats pushed the three tax bills through during their third consecutive Saturday voting session of 2025:

“It’s a farce for the Democrats to keep talking about making the wealthy pay more when they clearly are willing to tax everyday Washingtonians. Today alone the Senate majority supported tax increases that will apply to childcare, nursing homes, synthetic tobacco products, self-storage companies, doorbell cameras, and much, much more.

“The tax bills that came out of the Senate today would cost more than $10 billion all by themselves, and we’re still expecting other taxes to be coming our way from the House. I heard Governor Ferguson on Thursday when he said $12 billion in new taxes is unsustainable, so the majority is already close to that already – but maybe the Democrats just don’t care what he thinks.

“The best answer to the governor’s concerns about tax increases, and being ready for anything coming out of Washington, D.C., is the $ave Washington budget proposed by Senate Republicans. It doesn’t require a single tax increase and won’t cut anyone off of services. We made a motion to bring our budget bill to the floor today, but the Democrats said no.

“One of the tax bills we haven’t seen yet is the very harmful property-tax increase, and apparently it’s going from bad to worse. Just last night we learned the Senate Democrats are intending to rewrite Senate Bill 5798 – which would completely eliminate the 1% cap on the annual growth of property-tax rates – in a way that would also take our state’s education-funding system backwards, to the days when property-rich school districts had a huge money-raising advantage over property-poor districts.

“If they go through with this change, the worst property-tax bill of the session will also become the worst education bill of the session. It’s unbelievable, and unacceptable, that they are even considering such a huge shift with just one week left to go.”