I’m going to say something that probably won’t make everyone happy.
I don’t think Washington State has a revenue problem.
I think Washington State has an accountability problem.
Like most people, every now and then I sit down and go through my bank account. Usually it’s because things feel tighter than they should. I start looking through transactions and inevitably find something stupid.
A streaming service I forgot about.
An app subscription I signed up for and never used.
A membership that made perfect sense six months ago and absolutely no sense today.
Then I do what every normal person does.
I cancel it.
I don’t call my boss and ask for a raise because I forgot I was paying for Hulu.
I don’t ask my neighbors to chip in another twenty bucks a month because I stopped paying attention to my own spending.
I take responsibility for my budget.
Why is government any different?
Over the past several years, Washington residents have watched taxes, fees, permits, registrations, and countless other costs continue to climb. Every year we’re told the same thing: we need more money.
More money for transportation.
More money for housing.
More money for education.
More money for public safety.
More money for climate initiatives.
More money for this.
More money for that.
And somehow, despite all of the additional money being collected, we’re still being told there isn’t enough.
At some point, somebody has to ask the uncomfortable question:
Where did the last pile of money go?
Because that’s the question every household in America has to answer.
If my family budget was constantly running short, nobody would applaud me for simply demanding more income without reviewing my spending. They would tell me to sit down, open my bank statement, and start figuring out where the leaks are.
Government should be held to the same standard.
Instead, we’ve created a culture where questioning spending is treated like an attack on the services themselves.
It isn’t.
If I cancel a subscription I’m not using, that doesn’t mean I’m against entertainment.
If I stop paying for an app I forgot existed, that doesn’t mean I’m anti-technology.
It means I’m paying attention.
That’s all an audit is.
Paying attention.
And frankly, Washington State is overdue for one.
A real one.
Not a carefully worded report that gets buried on page 47 of a government website. Not a study designed to justify the status quo. Not a committee that spends two years studying whether another committee should be formed.
A genuine top-to-bottom review of where taxpayer money is going.
Every agency.
Every department.
Every program.
Every grant.
Every recurring expense.
Every consultant contract.
Everything.
Because if we’re going to continue asking working families, homeowners, renters, and small businesses for more money, we should at least be able to demonstrate that the money already being collected is being spent effectively.
That shouldn’t be controversial.
Yet somehow it is.
The frustrating part is that most waste isn’t even malicious.
People hear “government waste” and imagine corruption or criminal activity.
Sometimes that’s true.
Most of the time it isn’t.
Most waste comes from the same place our forgotten subscriptions come from.
Nobody looked at it.
Nobody questioned it.
Nobody wanted to be the person who asked whether it still made sense.
So the charge keeps hitting the account month after month.
Year after year.
Administration after administration.
Budget after budget.
And eventually nobody remembers why it exists in the first place.
Meanwhile, the average Washington resident is expected to absorb higher property taxes, higher fees, higher permit costs, higher utility costs, higher fuel costs, and higher costs of living across the board.
People are frustrated.
Not because they don’t want roads.
Not because they don’t want schools.
Not because they don’t want services.
They’re frustrated because they’re being asked to pay more while watching government avoid the same budgeting discipline every household is expected to practice.
When families get into financial trouble, they audit themselves.
When businesses get into financial trouble, they audit themselves.
When nonprofits get into financial trouble, they audit themselves.
When government gets into financial trouble, it often asks taxpayers for more money first.
That’s backwards.
Before a single new tax is proposed, before another fee is added, before another cost is shifted onto residents, there should be one simple requirement:
Show us where the money is going.
Show us what’s working.
Show us what isn’t.
Show us what can be improved.
Show us what can be eliminated.
Then let’s have an honest conversation.
Because accountability isn’t anti-government.
Accountability is what makes government trustworthy.
The truth is, I don’t expect perfection. Nobody should.
But I do expect the same level of responsibility from Olympia that is expected from every family sitting around their kitchen table trying to make ends meet.
If I can find my forgotten Hulu subscription, Washington State can find theirs.
The question is whether anyone has the courage to start looking.