Representative Noel Frame emailed The Wire the following response to the Association of Washington Business’s opposition to HB 2947.

AWB can’t have it both ways. They have cast the manufacturing tax break issue in the context of rural jobs, and then did a bait and switch when Democrats offered a solution for rural manufacturers only. Look no further than AWB’s March 8 press release. They said “We are disappointed legislators did not do more to address Washington’s urban-rural economic divide” and “there were…many missed opportunities” and “At the top of the list is the Legislature’s failure to support manufacturers by lowering the business and occupation (B&O) tax rate.”

Conflating the two issues was a political strategy. It was a gamble for AWB, and it was a bet they lost. We knew all along their priority was a tax break for manufacturers that export – that was the deal they got in the budget last year. We called their bluff with Rep. Chapman’s HB 2947/2992, and they opposed it because helping rural Washington was never their actual priority. It was a ruse for helping the big manufacturers in the I-5 corridor. Rural manufacturers could have received tax relief this year, had AWB not opposed HB 2947/2992. Democrats will continue to work to grow the rural economy and we hope AWB will help, rather than impede, our efforts in the future.

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