S-2902.1          _______________________________________________

                            SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 8021

                  _______________________________________________

State of Washington              52nd Legislature         1991 1st Special Session

By Senators Roach, Owen, Craswell, Rasmussen, Thorsness, Oke, McCaslin, Bailey, Barr and Jesernig.

Read first time June 28, 1991.  Referred to Committee on Children & Family Services.

Asking Congress to vote to raise the income tax exemption for children.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE AND THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, AND TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES, IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED:

     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:

     WHEREAS, Children and families are the foundation of our society, and deserve the full support of our nation's government; and

     WHEREAS, The social and economic health of our families will play the key role in determining the future social and economic health of our nation; and

     WHEREAS, In the last four decades the federal income tax has placed an increasingly heavy burden on families with children, particularly low and middle-income families; and

     WHEREAS, In inflation-adjusted dollars personal income tax exemptions are worth less than half of what they were worth in 1960, and only one-quarter of what they were worth in 1948; and

     WHEREAS, The erosion of the value of income tax exemptions has caused the federal tax structure to be in direct conflict with the need to promote the strength and stability of families; and

     WHEREAS, The federal tax structure perpetuates the cycle of poverty and dependence by serving as a disincentive for people to get off public assistance; and

     WHEREAS, Congress is presently considering a proposal to raise the income tax exemption for children under eighteen years of age from the current level of $2,050 to a more proper level of $3,500; and

     WHEREAS, Approval of this measure would shield families from excessive taxation, help people to get off public assistance, and promote the overall economic health of America;

     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that our nation's leaders vote to raise the income tax exemption for children to $3,500 per child.

     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George Bush, President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and each member of Congress from the State of Washington.