On Monday, the millionaires’ tax bill passed the Washington state Senate and headed to the House. Great, more revenue! But there’s more to it than a 9.9 percent income tax on annual earnings above $1 million—including tax breaks for big, wealthy corporations
This week’s unexpectedly strong revenue forecast ($827 million more than projected over the next two years) coincides with town halls across the state. If you live in the 37th (Southeast Seattle), the 36th (Northwest Seattle), or the 43rd (Central Seattle) Legislative Districts, it’s more important than ever to show up this Saturday and make your legislators explain why they’re giving big business a break while our social programs wither.
For example, the millionaires’ tax includes a tax break of over $550 million to big businesses making over $250 million. Not a single senator proposed an amendment to address this tax break and Gov. Bob Ferguson has supported it, even while decrying the absence of meaningful tax cuts for working people.
And then, right after the millionaires’ tax passed, the Senate passed SB 6347, repealing a recent increase to the estate tax. This passed with a 27-member bipartisan majority, with eleven Democrats casting a dissenting vote. Our state Senate appears to be attempting to play both sides: cutting backroom deals with big business to hand them huge giveaways while attempting to appease the majority of us who support taxing the rich.
While we will not know specific details about the proposed budget from legislators until Sunday, backlash against existing cuts to social services have painted an ugly picture of what’s at stake. In the Governor’s budget, there are roughly $800 million in cuts, including to education and healthcare.
Up to 14,000 children will lose childcare coverage thanks to cuts to our childcare subsidy program. Also on the table is a $569 million reallocation of Climate Commitment Act funding, steeply reducing state resources for climate resiliency and environmental protection. This follows the billions of dollars in cuts the state legislature approved last year, including devastating cuts to higher education and “the largest cut to abortion access in Washington history.” Still reeling from last year’s funding cuts to everything from food vouchers for working families, to subsidized child care eligibility for parents, to health care access for seniors and immigrants, we need to hear from our lawmakers what their plan is to keep that from happening again.
Fortunately, there’s still time for the House to amend the bill. House lawmakers can also reconsider HB 2100, Rep. Scott’s tax bill that mimics Seattle’s own Jumpstart tax on big corporations. As The Stranger reported last week, Rep. Scott’s payroll tax could bring in revenue by 2027, while revenue from the millionaires’ tax wouldn’t be available until 2029. (HB 2100 is currently stalled in the House Finance Committee—but as it’s a bill concerning the budget, House Democrats can choose to act on it at any point during this short session.)
So show up this Saturday and let your representatives know working Washingtonians want to tax the rich, ditch the corporate carveouts, and fully fund the social safety net.
Fatema Boxwala (she/they) is an activist, artist and computer scientist living in Seattle. She is the founder and coalition leader of Tech4Taxes, a group of tech workers advocating for progressive revenue in Washington state. Oliver Miska (any pronouns) is a political consultant with Solidarity Policy and currently under contract with Lavender Rights Project. Hannah Sabio-Howell (she/her) is the communications director of a labor rights organization in Washington, organizing with workers across sectors to raise wages, enforce labor standards, and challenge corporate influence.