Interim at-large Councilman Sekou Biddle says that if the D.C. Council is going to raise taxes on wealthy residents, then the council members should be among them. The city is facing a $545 million budget gap for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1, and as council members search for cuts, it is becoming increasingly likely they’ll look for tax increases to help cover the shortfall. Biddle is the latest to raise the possibility, telling The Washington Examiner on Wednesday: “I have an aversion to raising taxes on people considered wealthy without including ourselves in that group.” Council members earn $125,000 a year. But, Biddle said, “by discussing tax hikes now, we give ourselves a release valve from making the changes we need to make.”
The D.C. Democratic State Committee voted to give Biddle the at-large seat vacated by Kwame Brown when Brown rose to council chairman last month. Biddle is now fighting to remain on the council in an April special election. If he loses, he won’t be voting on the budget.
Biddle’s statement puts him more in line with Brown and Mayor Vincent Gray, who have said they want to cut first before considering taxes, than it does with tax-first, cut-later council members like Jim Graham and Michael Brown. Both Graham and Michael Brown backed a proposal in December to raise taxes on individuals who earn $200,000 or more that was two votes shy of passing.
In December, though, the city was facing a $188 million gap for the current fiscal year. With the shortfall about three times as large next time around, the tax-raising council members may find better footing.
They’ll also have the opportunity to use a report released by the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute on Wednesday that found District families pay less in taxes than their neighbors in Maryland and Virginia.
Aleksandra Gajdeczka, who wrote the report, said she hopes it breaks the “misconception” that D.C. residents pay more taxes than their neighbors.
To keep his at-large seat, Biddle faces a field of Democrats who are increasingly coming out in favor of tax increases. Josh Lopez said he’d back a tax increase if elected, and Bryan Weaver favors a more progressive tax structure.
Biddle is also battling Republican Pat Mara, who made that clear raising taxes should not be part of the discussion.
“We need to make across-the-board cuts,” Mara said Wednesday. “And we need to draw a line in the sand against raising any and all taxes.”
