Leading Effort to Repeal Long-Term Care Tax, Rep. Abbarno Invites Legislative Democrats to Join [The Chronicle, Centralia, Wash.]

Dec. 3—State Rep. Peter Abbarno, R-Centralia, has authored legislation to repeal the state's new long-term care insurance tax program, set to begin next year, and he's calling on state House and Senate Democrats to join him in his effort.

"House Republican Health Care Leader Joe Schmick and I have been at the table for months, along with our other Republican colleagues, thoroughly examining this issue and the 2020 Long-Term Services and Supports Trust Actuarial Study," Abbarno said in a Friday news statement.

"We have come to the conclusion the only real solution is to fully repeal the long-term care insurance program and the tax. Surprisingly, we've heard nothing until now from our Democratic counterparts in the House and Senate, even though the Senate Democrats' letter acknowledges they have 'heard loud and clear' from their constituents about the unfairness of this program," he continued.

Abbarno said the only way the new bill could be fixed is to enact a "full repeal as quickly as possible."

"After that, we can go back to the drawing board and spend the next year engaging private industry and working families across the state in a robust, deliberative discussion to determine if a similar program is even needed. I invite Democrats from both chambers and the governor to join with us in a unified, bipartisan effort to rescind this defective long-term care insurance program and its regressive payroll tax, and work on real solutions," he said.

___

(c)2021 The Chronicle (Centralia, Wash.)

Visit The Chronicle (Centralia, Wash.) at www.chronline.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.