Six months after Governor Bob Ferguson signed SB 6346, his party is bidding against itself. Rep. Cindy Ryu wants the tax to start at $250,000. Sen. Jesse Salomon counters with $750,000. The $1 million exemption is already treated as temporary. The 9.9 percent rate stacks on top of the capital-gains tax. This is the opening move, not a one-time raid.
They have said the quiet part out loud. Asked why anyone should trust the tax would stay limited to millionaires, Rep. Larry Springer replied: “You shouldn’t.” Sen. Jamie Pedersen called earlier promises “a pie crust promise; easily made, easily broken,” noting the legislature can amend the statute “any time we want to.”
On the first day of session, Rep. Shaun Scott introduced a 5 percent payroll tax starting at $125,000. The appetite for more of your money is not subtle.
This is the same majority that extracted nearly $4 billion from the LEOFF 1 union pension fund and piled on $17 billion in new taxes—the largest increase in state history. Now they have stripped protections from Social Security, pensions, IRAs, and 401(k)s. Household income is taxed, creating a marriage penalty. Why eliminate those shields unless the plan is to collect from ordinary retirees?
Ferguson once vowed not to sign an income tax at all, then said he would not sign one targeting non-millionaires. Those assurances have expired. Washington voters have rejected a state income tax ten times. The only way to kill this one is to vote YES on I-645 this November—the clean repeal. The final vote on SB 6346 was 51-46. More fiscal conservatives are needed in Olympia if the pie-crust promises are ever to stop.
Democrats told you the tax would stay limited, retirement income would be protected, and the pension funds were safe. None of it held.
They are coming for more of your money—and the savings you worked a lifetime to build.
