BILL REQ. #:  H-0436.1 

Read first time 01/14/2003.   Referred to Committee on Finance.

     TO THE HONORABLE GEORGE W. 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, The Bill of Rights provides in the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution that, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people"; and
     WHEREAS, The power of the state to tax and to determine its fiscal policies is inherent in a sovereign state and is one of the most basic powers of government; and
     WHEREAS, The people of the State of Washington by and through their representatives in the state legislature have determined that a retail sales tax bears a fair and rational fiscal relationship to the protections and services provided by the state to the citizens, residents, and guests of the State of Washington, and have enacted such a retail sales tax and have authorized local governments to do the same; and
     WHEREAS, Congress enacted the Tax Reform Act of 1986 which specifically repealed for 1987 and later years the itemized deduction for state and local retail sales taxes for federal income tax purposes; and
     WHEREAS, Congress has denied equal protection to the people of the State of Washington by unfairly disallowing the retail sales tax deduction while at the same time arbitrarily favoring other states by allowing a deduction for state and local income taxes; and
     WHEREAS, By such action Congress has interfered with the right reserved to the State of Washington to carry out its traditional and historical power of taxation in order to support its unique and legitimate governmental functions on behalf of the people;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that Congress will amend the United States Code to expressly provide for the itemized deduction of state and local retail sales taxes for federal income tax purposes in those states which do not impose state or local income taxes.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to the Honorable George W. 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.