One in five Washington workers is a government employee—hiring freeze is a good idea
Posted by Amber Gunn - August 05, 2008The governor’s hiring freeze announced yesterday was forced by “weaker than expected revenue reports,” according to the Office of Financial Management as reported by the Olympian.
She also ordered cuts in travel and gasoline in an attempt to “ease the burden on our budget and on taxpayers."
Coming from someone who has facilitated a state spending increase of 33 percent in the last four years, that’s quite the statement.
Now let’s look at some cold hard facts on Washington’s economy and demographics. There are 6.4 million people living in our state as of 2006. Less than half of our state’s population works—that’s about 2.7 million. The non-working half generally consists of children, students, retirees, etc. This is important because these people tend to pay little or no taxes.
Now pay attention, because here’s where reality gets really upsetting.
This is especially significant given that the private sector is taking huge hits right now. Our state’s major private employers like Starbucks, WaMu, and Weyerhaueser are laying people off left and right. That means there are fewer private employees to support the public ones.
The point is, the governor’s REDUCTION OF AN INCREASE is probably not going to be sufficient. Even if we drain all our reserves, which are the equivalent of a savings account, we’re still looking at a $2 billion hole.
I can’t stress this enough, we would not be in this predicament if politicians had controlled spending to begin with. Jason Mercier at the Washington Policy Center has a great post about the need for a constitutional amendment to limit the growth of spending to inflation and population growth.
Thoughts? Add Comment -
K. Orengali said on Aug 06 2008 at 7:58pm
The bigger government gets the less it makes sense.
Red Raider said on Aug 06 2008 at 8:52pm
I wanna go home to Texas.
Paul said on Aug 07 2008 at 3:33pm
And one wonders why our sales tax rate is nearly 10%, our gas is the most expensive, property taes are high and many small businesses are either suffering or failing.
GET GREGOIRE OUT!
http://mccainpalinforprez.blogspot.com
ernest rheault said on Aug 07 2008 at 5:23pm
Unfortunatly we havent started to feel the results of out of control goverment both federal and state it is time to flush the goverments toilet reelect no one at the least we will get a change of crooks.
The working families are against the finincial wall with no hope of ever catching up and untill they are fed up with the goverment we are going to have more of the same old crap.
Kelly said on Aug 08 2008 at 9:13am
Now you know why we moved to Florida in '05!
smarterthenu said on Aug 08 2008 at 9:25am
"That means out of every five workers, four people must work to pay the salary and benefits of one. "
You idiot. This means no such thing. Did you forget the Federal Government? That kinda adds to the pool of payers, including the government workers themselves, no? And did you neglect to consider that "government employees" also pay the same local//state/sales/federal taxes as YOU? Of course you did, you moronic conservative talk-show listening puke.
Chris said on Aug 08 2008 at 12:15pm
Hey Smartguy,
That not what she said. Read it again.
You make it sould like the govt employee is supporting him/herself.
Take your attacks back to HA.
Mooseman said on Aug 10 2008 at 1:14pm
How many federal government employees are there in this state? Methinks smarterthenu (sic) smarterthanu? protests too much. Granted the state government employees pay taxes as we all do, but the original source of revenue for their income is from the taxpayers in the private sector. Similarly many, but not all retirees pay taxes on Social Security. In both cases the tax contribution is similar to pouring water into a bucket with holes in it, with the outflow far greater than the inflow. Oh well, here in Seattle, the 20 cent bag fee will save us from environmental apocalypse. Olympia's geniuses will come up with something of similar merit to save us from financial doom.
Gunn said on Aug 10 2008 at 11:06pm
smarter,
Pull yourself together.
It's amazing how the anonymity that blogging offers brings out the worst in people. The way a person acts when no one is looking, when he is anonymous, that is a person's core.
I'm sorry that facts upset you. The facts are:
1) Nearly one in five (18.3%) Washington residents is a government employee.
2) All government employees--federal, state and local--are paid with tax dollars.
3) The fact that government employees pay taxes does not add to the pool of money available. It just means that money is taxed twice.
4) The federal government does not have its own source of income, therefore it does not "add to the pool of payers." Transferring federal dollars to the state does not benefit individuals in the private sector, it only benefits the state. It's the equivalent of transferring money from one pocket to the other.
And, should you choose to comment on our blog again, your ad hominem attacks are not wanted. If you disagree with something I write, by all means say so, but save your personal insults for another venue.
Thanks.
Amber