Passing a tax on income has been a stated goal of Washington Democrats for as long as I’ve been covering politics here – more than 15 years.
Washington is one of nine states in the nation that don’t tax personal income. It’s a distinction that once made the state an attractive place to live, work, and start a business.
Democrats have long claimed that taxing income will make our state’s tax structure less regressive by being less reliant on taxes (like gas and sales) that hurt the poor and middle class more than the rich.
Suspicious, then, that in 2026 they suddenly claim they don’t want to tax your income at all. Nope! Not them! They would never do such a thing!
They only want to tax the income of millionaires, they claim.
Well, how nice! No one likes greedy millionaires anyway! The rich should pay their fair share!
Not so fast. Let’s set slogans aside and use our noggins.
Why would Democrats say for decades that their goal is an income tax, only to suddenly abandon that goal in favor of what they’re now calling a “Millionaires’ Tax”?
They wouldn't. They’re lying to you. And if you don’t call them on that lie now, all of us will be paying a tax on our income in a matter of years.
I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to believe the evidence of your eyes and ears.
Below are answers to commonly asked questions about the maneuver Governor Bob Ferguson and Olympia Democrats are trying to pull. Share it far and wide.
Isn’t an income tax unconstitutional in Washington?
Yes and no.
Taxing income (property) is allowed under our state constitution, but it must be uniform.
Article VII Section I reads: “All taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax and shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. The word ‘property’ as used herein shall mean and include everything, whether tangible or intangible, subject to ownership.…all taxes shall be uniform upon the same class of property.”
Based on that, wouldn’t taxing only millionaires be unconstitutional?
Yes, yes it would. A first-year law student (or anyone with access to Google) could see that. Carving out a tax that targets the income of only those making above a million dollars a year is blatantly unconstitutional.
Then why would they try to pass an unconstitutional tax?
Because they’ve been able to do it before.
In 2021, Democrats passed a capital gains tax – a 7% tax on profits from the sale of things like stocks and bonds.
Every other state in the union and the IRS classify capital gains as income and therefore property.
But not in Washington, where the State Supreme Court is packed with progressives.
In 2023, the state’s high court ruled that the capital gains tax is an excise tax, not an income tax. The ruling is a legal anomaly in the history of the United States.
During a legislative preview event in December, State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, the Democratic House Majority Leader, spelled out the party’s legal strategy to get an income tax through.
“I don’t think we should … just because a Supreme Court in 1935 voted in a 5-4 decision based on a federal interpretation of income as property that has not been in use for many, many decades let that keep us from having a discussion about whether we could have tax code that works better for the people our state.”
He is openly hinting at what Democrats believe the State Supreme Court will do – reject income as property.
Why don’t they send the issue to voters, or try to do it the right way by passing a constitutional amendment?
Because going about it the right way wouldn’t get them the desired result.
Democrats have majorities in the House and Senate, but not the two-thirds needed to send an amendment to voters on their own.
Even if they did, voters have rejected the income tax repeatedly, including in 2024 when they qualified Initiative 2111, which stated “neither the state nor any of its political subdivisions may charge any individual person a tax based on personal income.”
Wouldn’t passing an income tax make our tax structure fairer?
If they simultaneously cut or eliminate the taxes they claim are regressive, one could make that argument (as long as the net tax burden went down). The problem is Democrats have not promised to do so, nor is it likely in the middle of what they claim is a budget crisis.
The most likely scenario is that Democrats simply layer the income tax on top of all the other taxes.
What makes you think they will tax the income of anyone other than millionaires?
After announcing his support for a “Millionaires' Tax” in December, Governor Ferguson took to social media to promise that the income tax would never hit the poor and middle class.
“I will not support an income tax for people who make less than $1 million in a year,” he wrote.
So, why shouldn’t we believe him?
A better question is: Why would we?
When he ran for governor in 2024, Ferguson promised to be a fiscal hawk and lower costs for families. Within three months of taking office he signed into law the largest tax increase in state history.
Governor Jay Inslee also notoriously promised not to raise taxes when he first ran for office. I don’t have to tell you how many taxes he signed off on in the 12 years that followed.
Politicians lie. That’s what they do. And even if he’s telling the truth, Ferguson won’t be in office forever. Once an income tax is law, it's easy to amend.
The capital gains tax can be our guide.
When it was first passed in 2021, it targeted gains of over $270,000 at a rate of 7%.
As ultra-rich Washingtonians like Jeff Bezos moved out of state to escape the tax, projected revenue plummeted. Bezos alone has avoided $954 million in state capital gains taxes since moving to Florida, according to Forbes.
So, as soon as the State Supreme Court upheld the tax, Democrats quickly amended it to try to bring in more money.
Apparently, they didn’t learn the first time that rich people are capable of rapid mobility.
History tells us similar financial flight will occur should millionaires be targeted for taxation. Eventually, the tax burden will have no place to go but back to the middle class.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis already anticipates his state benefiting should the tax pass.
“Washington has already driven taxpayers out due to bad policies,” he wrote on X. “Enacting an income tax would be counterproductive — states with no income tax have a major advantage over states that do. The inevitable result is that some taxpayers will flee, the appetite for spending will continue, and the income tax will expand to hit people with sub-seven figure incomes. This will further erode the economic base — and the cycle will keep repeating.”
Brandi, isn’t all of this just conjecture?
As I stated at the beginning, passing an income tax has been a public policy position of state Democrats for decades. Why would that suddenly change? Especially when the state claims to be in the poor house.
It wouldn’t. But their strategy would.
According to a source who was present at the House Democratic Caucus annual retreat in December, the strategy will roll out in three steps:
Step 1: Pass the tax into law.
Step 2: Wait for legal challenges to reach the State Supreme Court, which is poised to reverse 100 years of precedent and rule it constitutional.
Step 3: Defeat a referendum or initiative seeking to overturn it by using the same “tax the rich” language that worked with voters in 2024 when they rejected an initiative to repeal the capital gains tax. According to our source, Democrats believe any effort to have voters repeal the “Millionaires’ Tax” will fail if they can successfully paint it as a tax on the wealthy – rather than a road to a broader tax on income.
Specifically, Democrats are counting on Let’s Go Washington’s Brian Heywood to lead the charge. They believe Heywood, a multi-millionaire hedge fund manager, can successfully be painted as a greedy California native who simply doesn’t want to help fund necessities for the poor and middle class.
Simply put, Democrats have thought through every potential roadblock. They believe 2026 will be the year they can finally realize their long-held dream of taxing income.
What they’re not counting on is the ability of regular Washingtonians to see their scheme for what it is: Another money grab from a state government that has no interest in fiscal restraint.
Our state spending has surged 116% since 2015. While most state budgets grow to keep up with inflation, Washington’s is growing at three times inflation and nearly nine times the rate of population growth, according to The Center Square.
At some point, voters must get wise to the grift.
