For decades, conservative rural voters have been slurping up the benefits of this state's social safety net (which is paid for disproportionately by urban tax dollars) while simultaneously demanding smaller government and voting against the interests of urban taxpayers (on issues ranging from gay rights to women's health care).

And for decades, Democrats in Olympia have skittered away from confrontation over this ideologically inconsistent leeching, even though they have the power to essentially say to rural conservatives: "Fine, fuck off, you're on your own, here's your smaller government, and best of luck paying for necessary state services with your own little tax base."

Now, finally, Democrats in the state house have proposed a budget that does just that—under the anodyne heading "allow local revenue options." The house Dems' plan would let cities and counties raise taxes to offset recent and future cuts to social services, with more populous (and wealthier) areas of the state being allowed to raise their sales taxes by an additional 0.1 percent and less populous (and poorer) areas of the state getting to raise their sales taxes by 0.2 percent.

Doing so, says house Ways and Means Committee member Reuven Carlyle (D-36), would call the bluff of "those who pretend like it's possible to sustain what you could call King County–level services in places where there's a dependency on a massive infusion of state dollars to accomplish that goal."

The problem with this plan: Democrats in the state senate are not on board.

Outlining their budget proposal on February 28, Senator Ed Murray (D-43) dismisses the idea of increased taxing authority for cities and counties, saying: "I don't believe that you risk an already fragile public health system by pulling money out of [rural counties] and stepping away from a state responsibility."

The house and senate Democratic caucuses—as well as their Republican colleagues—will be hammering out a final budget agreement before the scheduled March 8 end of the legislative session. But as they do, Carlyle won't be the only person rooting for new tools for cities.

"These are very hard financial times for local governments. Seattle alone is facing a $40 million budget hole for next year," says Aaron Pickus, spokesman for Seattle mayor Mike McGinn. While Pickus refuses to go into specifics or actually say the word "taxes," he welcomed "tools to deal with" local budget shortfalls.