The Washington state constitution bars an income tax and voters have repeatedly rejected it, but what's a little parchment and democratic consent when there are political interests to pay off? That's the logic of Evergreen State Democrats, who are determined to impose a 9.9% tax on household income over $1 million a year.
On Monday lawmakers in Olympia pulled an all-nighter to push through the legislation, which Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson has said he will sign. The bill passed the House 51-46 and goes back to the state Senate. Democrats say the plan will collect $3.7 billion a year, but that will be less when the millionaires move out.
Washington voters have rejected income tax proposals 10 times, and public opposition is running high this time too. While the tax was moving through the state Senate the first time, more than 61,000 people signed in online to oppose it. By the time it moved to the House, Washington state House Republicans said more than 100,000 people had registered opposition.
State Democrats blamed bots for increasing the numbers. Manka Dhingra, the Senate Majority Leader, said the opposition doesn't matter. "It's not like we are making decisions not to pass a bill because of 'sign ins,'" she said, "So we'll take it with a grain of salt."
Voters would be forgiven for feeling hoodwinked by Ms. Dhingra, who opposed the income tax as a candidate but pivoted to support the current bill. Her re-election website explains that "when I ran for office, I stated clearly that I do not support an income tax and that remains true. I do not support a broad-based income tax. The Millionaires Tax is not that. It is a targeted proposal that would only affect about 20,000 of our wealthiest households."
In other words, it's an income tax.
Democrats say the tax plan is popular but then why are they including a provision to prevent it from being overturned by voter referendum? Bill section 1107 says the tax imposed by the act "is necessary for the support of the state government and its existing institutions." According to the Washington Policy Center, the Washington Legislature Bill Drafting Guide says that a "necessity clause" or "emergency clause" protects legislation against voter referendums.
Republicans in the minority can't stop the bill, but they did their parliamentary best to slow its passage with proposed amendments that put lawmakers on the record on key issues. By Tuesday Democrats had rejected more than 50 amendments to the bill, including one to require a constitutional amendment to allow a state income tax.
Once the state's constitutional guardrails come off, middle-class Washingtonians know tax-and-spend Democrats will be coming for them next. That's what happens in every state that has introduced an income tax. Spending soars with the new revenue, and politicians demand even higher taxes. The rate starts low, or at a high level of income, but the rate inevitably gets higher and the income threshold lower. It's a slow form of fiscal suicide.
The taxing Democrats are already at this. The House this week struck from the bill an annual inflation adjustment to the $1 million tax threshold. Instead it will adjust only every other year, capturing only the prior 12 months of inflation. The House also replaced its traditional Seattle consumer price index with a slower-growing national CPI.
House Republicans say this means the $1 million threshold will grow over time at only one-third the real rate of inflation. Year after year the "millionaire" tax will capture more and more earners who weren't millionaires when the tax was passed. That's the dishonest way Democrats will tax the middle class, which is where the real money is.
Democrats are gambling that they can get away with this because the state Supreme Court is so partisan it will rubber stamp whatever they do. That's what the court did in 2023 by ruling that a 7% tax on capital-gains income was an excise tax, not a tax on property or income.
And Democrats claim Donald Trump is the threat to democracy.